Greenpeace India, an NGO working in the Field of environment, said on Thursday that the Delhi government's claim that air pollution has decreased by 25 percent during the last few years is not true. However, this report of the NGO has been rejected by the Aam Aadmi Party government. According to the analysis of the NGO, 'Combining the increasing consumption of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel along with air quality monitoring and satellite data in Delhi and adjoining states, the government's claim that pollution during the last years does not seem correct. There has been a decrease of 25 percent in the level of pollution, according to claim'.
Reacting to the Greenpeace report, Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said that this analysis is not important for him. He said that the Central government has said in the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court that pollution has reduced in Delhi and pollution is being caused by burning of stubble in October and November. In Delhi government advertisements, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that PM2.5 (particles of diameter equal to or less than 2.5 microns present in the air) has dropped to an average of 115 between 2016 and 2018, an average between 2012 and 2014 Was 154. Assuming these claims, there has been a 25 percent reduction in pollution.
However, Greenpeace India has said that satellite data shows that there has been no satisfactory reduction in these particles between 2013 and 2018. There has been a slight decrease in the later part of 2018 as compared to the last 3 years. Contrary to the claims of the Delhi government, the NGO has said that pollution has increased in some cases. Greenpeace said that it is noteworthy that coal consumption in Delhi and two neighboring states, Haryana and Punjab, increased by 17.8 percent between 2015-16 and 2018-19.
