Gadkari Confesses He Does Not Want to Visit Delhi Because of Pollution

New Delhi: Union minister Nitin Gadkari , on Tuesday confessed that he does not feel like visiting the national capital as he often catches infection here due to air pollution.

Addressing an event in Nagpur, Gadkari said the city of Delhi is such that "I do not like to live here. I get infection due to pollution here".

"Har baar Delhi me aata hua, aisa lagta hain ki (Delhi) jaana chahiye ki nahi. Itna bhayankar pollution hai (Every time, while coming to Delhi, I think whether I should go or not because pollution levels are so high," he said.

Gadkari suggested that the best way to reduce pollution is to bring down the consumption of fossil fuels.

Delhi residents woke up to slightly improved air quality on Tuesday as the Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 274 in the morning, marking the third consecutive day of relief.

The beginning of December has been relatively easier for Delhiites to breathe compared to November, which saw toxic air persisting on most days of the month.

Gadkari noted that India imports fossil fuels worth Rs 22 lakh crore, which is challenging from the point of view of economy, environment and ecology.

"We can reduce import of fossil fuels by encouraging alternative fuels," he said. Gadkari, who is known for his frank views, said the biggest problem faced by India are poverty, hunger and unemployment, so in the times to come, the government has to ensure to achieve economic as well as social equality. 

Supreme Court Want Permanent Solution

The Supreme Court on Monday stressed on finding a permanent solution to the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-National Capital Region, saying a similar situation arose every year between October and December.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said it had perused the orders passed by the apex court from time to time in the pollution matter and it emerged a similar situation arose every year between October and December.

"We propose to go into all aspects of causes of pollution and try to find out a permanent solution," it said.

The bench said permanent solutions had to be found with respect to stubble burning and various other causes of pollution.

The top court asked the amicus curiae in the matter to prepare a note on these issues within two weeks for it to consider.

During the hearing, the bench said it would hear the parties on December 5 on whether to relax the stringent restrictions under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 4.

With PTI Inputs