Pollution takes backseat in last 8 years, says Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that pollution levels have dipped in the city in the last eight years despite the swift pace of development and the construction of schools, hospitals, and flyovers.
Addressing a gathering at Thyagaraj Stadium on the occasion of World Environment Day, he asserted that both PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels “fell by 30 percent” in 2022 compared to the figures in 2016. Whenever development happens, it is accompanied by pollution due to the felling of trees, road construction, and the kicking of dust, among others, he said.
“In Delhi, the pace of development has not gone down in the last eight years. Schools, hospitals, and flyovers are being constructed. But, the pollution level has dipped in this period,” Kejriwal said. Sharing further data, he said in 2016, on 26 days, the pollution level was ‘very bad’ when the city was “akin to a gas chamber” with grey skies and bad air. In 2022, only six such days were there, he said. In 2016, on 109 days, the pollution level was ‘low with a clear sky’ and ‘very good air outside’, but in 2022, the number of such days was 163, he said. In his address, the chief minister also said that the tree cover percentage (of total land area) in the city has risen to 23 percent today from 20 percent in 2013.