The residents of India¡¯s national capital as well as several parts of North India have literally been living in a gas chamber and breathing the air that is equivalent to smoking 37 cigarettes a day. The overall AQI stood at 430 early morning on Sunday following light showers but that has since been climbing at a steady pace and was recorded at around 625 in the afternoon.?
Now, there should have been a proactive role played by the state and central governments to help combat this situation and contain the spread of smog in the national capital. The environment ministry should have been at the forefront of this endeavour but that seems further from the truth.?
Despite the residents of national capital having expressed their dismay in all possible manners, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar could only muster two tweets on this Sunday so far.?
In the first tweet, he urged the citizens to start their day with music and shared a link to what he called ¡°a scintillating thematic composition¡± by Veena exponent Emani Sankara Sastry.
The second tweet by India¡¯s Environment Minister while its Capital is struggling to breathe is a mere translation of his first tweet in Hindi. In other words, Javadekar wants you to start your day with music with double emphasis.?
However, till the time of publication of this report on Sunday, Javadekar did not make any mention of pollution while the Delhiites continue to live in a gas chamber. More than anybody else, it is the responsibility of the Environment minister to come forward and help tackle this situation but he surely seems to be lulled in the magic of scintillating compositions.?
Javadekar is also the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, and while he may have hoped to spread awareness about the work being done by Prasar Bharti through his tweet, his silence on pollution add to the woes of the suffering residents of Delhi and North India.??