The air pollution in Delhi was 30 times the World Health Organisation prescribed limit after people burst firecrackers across the city on Sunday night, the day of Deepawali, despite a ban on all forms of firecrackers, according to Delhi Pollution Control Committee data. Delhi was the “most polluted” major city in the world at 10:30 am on Monday, according to IQAir’s (a Swiss air quality technology company) live data for over 100 cities. Delhi was the most polluted major city for many days in early November too. There was utter disregard for the Supreme Court order banning bursting of crackers.
The authorities failed to take any action against those who flouted the order. No efforts were made in the true sense to implement the SC order and people defied order as they knew that the authorities wouldn’t act. With election nearing, the political parties kept quiet, fearing backlash from the majority population. The AAP government in Delhi accused the BJP leaders of instigating people to defy the ban. Sadly, such sensitive and important subjects like environmental concerns also got entangled in politics. If this trend continues, the battle against pollution will never be won. The people of Delhi in particular are suffering due to poor air quality. The politicians should think for the greater cause of the population and not act as per the popular sentiment.