 "Arvinder Singh Lovely")
The Congress' Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday held a meeting of the 'shadow cabinet' of former ministers to discuss the pollution issue in the national capital, a party statement said.
Lovely claimed many lives are lost in the wombs due to the pollution but the central and the Delhi governments have not bothered to draw up a roadmap to find a permanent solution to the problem.
Leaders of both these governments are busy campaigning for elections in other states instead of tackling Delhi's woes, Lovely alleged.
The meeting unanimously passed two resolutions -- one requesting Lt Governor VK Saxena and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to convene an all-party meet to discuss the pollution issue and the other for setting up of a high-powered monitoring committee headed by a Supreme Court judge and comprising environment experts and civil society members -- according to the statement.
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief said the meeting not only discussed the reasons for the pollution problem but also suggested steps to permanently address the issues. The meeting also came up with a 'white paper' for the purpose.
Lovely said the former Delhi ministers are aware of the causes, including technical matters, of the pollution and added that their suggestions are vital.
He said the primary reason for air pollution is the city government's failure to expand the Delhi Transport Corporation's bus fleet and to ensure last-mile connectivity to metro stations. As a result, a large number of two-wheelers hit the roads, causing pollution levels to rise.
