New Delhi: A political showdown erupted in Delhi over the impounding of overage vehicles, with AAP and BJP trading sharp accusations. Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Delhi’s air pollution crisis and the subsequent action against end-of-life vehicles were direct results of previous AAP govt’s prolonged inaction. “As early as 2014, National Green Tribunal directed the deregistration and ban of vehicles older than 15 years (petrol) and 10 years (diesel) in Delhi due to rising pollution levels. These orders were repeatedly ignored by the then AAP govt. As a result, pollution worsened, and the courts intervened again in 2015, 2016 and 2018,” he said. “If the NGT orders from 2014 onwards and the Supreme Court ruling of 2018 were acted upon in time, we wouldn’t have reached this stage.”Unlike other metro cities, such harsh vehicular restrictions became necessary only in Delhi because the previous regime failed when pollution was still manageable, Sirsa claimed. “NGT even noted that AAP’s odd-even schemes failed to improve Delhi’s air quality.” AAP neither safeguarded public health nor protected the interests of Delhi’s vehicle owners, he alleged. Earlier, opposition leader Atishi said it was BJP’s “Tughlaqi” decree to remove 62 lakh old vehicles from Delhi’s roads as a result of its unholy nexus with vehicle manufacturers. “BJP must tell the people of Delhi the exact amount it received in donations from vehicle manufacturers for elections,” the AAP MLA demanded. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia claimed, “Within just five months, even children in Delhi realised BJP is incapable of governance, all it knows is how to torment people, loot them and demolish their homes.”
