Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Sunday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, saying that lack of preparedness in tackling pollution in the city shows “failure of governance”, and pitched for a Centre-led panel to deal with the issue of pollution.
Ms. Dikshit also criticised the AAP dispensation for making “pronouncements” but not following them up, and said the government used its run-ins with the Lieutenant-Governor as an “excuse” for not delivering.
The veteran Congress leader said the Delhi government had “failed” to anticipate the pollution crisis despite it being a repeat of last year, when stubble burning was again supposed to have been a major cause for toxic air.
‘Form a committee’
“Nothing has happened which wasn’t expected and not to be prepared for it is a failure of governance,” Ms. Dikshit said.
“I personally feel now that the Centre should form a committee of people representing Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi and see that before the stubble burning takes place, a method is found on how to deal with it,” the three-time Chief Minister of Delhi said.
She also suggested that Delhi and its neighbouring States should look into pooling resources to deploy machines that can roll-up the stubble so that it can be used for something else rather than being burnt, which significantly leads to smoke and pollution.
