"DPCC Chairman stalled study on determining pollution sources": AAP leader Gopal Rai in letter to Delhi CM
Oct 25, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 25 : Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking suspension of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) chairman accusing him of stalling an IIT Kanpur study to determine pollution sources in the national capital.
In a post on X, Aam Admi Party said," Environment Minister Gopal Rai writes to CM Arvind Kejriwal seeking immediate suspension of Ashwini Kumar and disciplinary action, DPCC Chairman for stalling Real-time Source Apportionment study by IIT Kanpur. Payment to IIT Kanpur which has been stopped by DPCC Chairman Ashwini Kumar."
Gopal Rai in his letter to Arvind Kejriwal said, "The real-time study was intended to collate data over a long duration of time to ascertain what were the different sources of pollution at different times of the year, and at different locations in Delhi. However, as he notes on 18.10.2023, Ashwani Kumar is convinced that the source of Delhi's pollution has to be internal factors and cannot be majorly attributed to outside Delhi factors such as biomass (parali) burning."
"He does not put forth any scientific basis for his conclusions. As the IIT Kanpur report does not align with his idea of what causes pollution in Delhi, he is willing to sabotage the entire project with no care or concern for the people of Delhi and no respect for scientific research," he added.
Pointing out that Ashwani Kumar's arguments are not backed by scientific data, Gopal Rai said, "Instead of deferring to scientific opinion, he chooses to substitute it with his own views contrary to all tenets of professionalism, which is a very alarming issue."
Earlier today the overall air quality in the national capital on Wednesday morning was recorded in the 'moderate' category, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 190.
As per the latest data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality around Delhi University was recorded at 273 (poor) in the morning hours, while the IIT area in New Delhi was at 173.
