Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav gave 'gol-mol' reply in Rajya Sabha on air pollution: Jairam Ramesh
Dec 07, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 7 : Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday hit out at Union Minister Bhupender Yadav saying that he gave a "gol mol" reply to pointed questions on public health and air pollution inside Parliament.
The Congress MP was referring to the reply he received from the Union Minister during Question Hour on 'air pollution in NCR and the country' in Rajya Sabha on the fourth day of the ongoing Winter Session.
Jairam Ramesh asked a question about whether the Centre was considering a review of the Pollution Control Act that was passed in 1981 and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
To this Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, "In view of the problem of air pollution in the country, a provision of Rs 19,711 crore was made by the Central government. And to define the standards that were set, 131 cities in the country were also identified. Schemes were implemented by the Central government to identify these cities, all provisions were made keeping in mind the toxic emissions that spread in the air, especially PM 2.5 and PM 10. And I would like to say that the standards which were made in these 131 cities, progress was made quite satisfactorily."
"Rather, I would like to tell Jairam Ramesh that the municipalities that did good work and contributed in these 131 cities were also given awards in a positive manner. Because this topic is related to the lives of all of us and especially the local municipalities should participate in it as much as possible and those who have done good work should be specially compensated," he added.
https://twitter.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1732744845838406074
Posting a video of the Upper House proceedings, Jairam took to the social media platform, X, and said a knowledgeable minister deliberately skirted a direct, pointed question on public health and air pollution with a general gol-mol reply.
"We have all witnessed students who fill up pages with lots of words when they do not know answers to questions. But today in Rajya Sabha, I saw a knowledgeable Minister deliberately skirting a direct, pointed question on public health and air pollution with a general gol-mol reply," he wrote on X.
