As the pollution in Delhi rose, the expertise of the Delhi Government was on display through a scripted play of blame game ensuing between the Delhi Governor and AAP Supremo. It was all about not giving clearance for the “Red Light On, Gaddi Off” campaign.
The futilities of the campaign were stated in the article “Red Light On, Gaddi Off: Effective campaign or rebranding exercise”, published in 2021. “Red Light On, Gaddi Off” is yet another “jumla” as the Delhi Pollution Control Committee recently stated that they had no data or scientific study on its effectiveness.
What will be interesting for citizens of Delhi to know is that 67 of the 84 enforcement vehicles in the transport department for penalising citizens are diesel-run BS-IV, along with several police vehicles. However, since both departments come under essential services, they remain exempt from the ban. Hence, one rule for the citizens and another for the government.
Citizens of Delhi would recall the infamous line of AAP Supremo “Vote de kar dekhiye, hum sab theek kar denge ji”. It has been eight years and counting, and now the parroted line is “Ye toh Centre ki galti hei ji, Ye toh Govenor ki galti hei ji, Ye toh Delhi Police ……, Ye toh MCD …….”.
Late Shiela Dikshit was visionary enough to opt for CNG in the early 21st century for a clean Delhi, but these so-called experts are clueless and keep jumping branches even after two decades of it, as they lack the long-term vision to develop an all-encompassing Delhi.
AAP Supremo, to save his image, once again ridiculed and insulted the Chief Minister of Punjab by calling him to Delhi and making him apologise for AAP’s lofty promises. During Late Shiela Dikshit’s tenure as Chief Minister, the Delhi Government introduced a self-regulating policy towards using firecrackers during Diwali.
Every school in Delhi would conduct positive campaigns to explain to students the harm caused by the bursting of firecrackers and ask them to take a pledge for a no-cracker Diwali. The sheer success of the campaign could be judged by the fact that not once did the Congress-led Delhi Government ban crackers outright.
Congress-led Delhi Government also believed in celebrating the Festival of Lights, the traditional Indian way of lighting ‘diyas’ that cares for everyone – babies to senior citizens including all living organisms, and not the Chinese way of celebrations – the firecrackers.
In contrast, the Delhi government has splurged ₹ 15.8 crores on advertisements about the ‘Pusa Bio Decomposer’ and a mere ₹ 40,000 on the chemical. If the AAP Model of governance is a failure in Delhi, the story from Punjab is no different.
Amrik Singh, a farmer from Ludhiana, said, “We hear and read about companies procuring paddy residues, but none has come to our village. Nor are decomposers available.”
While MM Kutty, the chairman of the Commission for Air Quality Management, stated that “Punjab had agreed to use the bio-decomposer in just 5,000 acres while the area under paddy in the state is close to 7.5 million acres.”
Whereas, food policy analyst, Vijay Sardana, said, “The air quality during winter will continue to suffer year after year until the Punjab government shows a desire to solve it.”
When the ministers in Delhi can travel in luxurious electric vehicles, then certain questions need to be asked of the Delhi Government. Could the Delhi Government have given more and bigger incentives for purchasing electric modes of transport – cycles, scooters, and cars?
Could the Delhi Government have purchased vehicles manufactured before 2020 plying on Delhi roads on first-cum basis and replaced them with electric options by slashing its 600 crore advertising budget?
Could the Delhi Government have incentivised the purchase of CNG vehicles in Delhi over Petrol and Diesel vehicles? In the end, the question that needs to be asked of the AAP’s governance model is: Did it do all it was propagated to do? If so, why is Delhi still suffering from air, water, and land pollution?
Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are personal to the author, and are not affiliated with DNA English.
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