Union Minister Harsh Vardhan slams report stating 1.2 million pollution deaths in India

Union minister Harsh Vardhan has discredited recent global reports claiming over one million deaths in India due to air pollution, saying such studies are only aimed at "causing panic".  environment minister is contesting Lok Sabha polls from Chandni Chowk constituency in national capital. 

BJP leader said his government is working hard to tackle problem of pollution and has been supporting AAP-led Delhi government in this direction. 

"We are doing our best to handle air pollution. number of (achhe din) good days are consistently going up and bad days coming down. Regarding high-profile data of millions of deaths, I do t agree with that because pollution can cause premature illness and or things. Pollution does affect health, but to create such a panicky situation and say millions of people are dying, I do t agree with that," Harsh Vardhan said.

A report by environment NGO Greenpeace recently stated that Delhi topped list of most polluted cities in world.  US-based Health Effects Institute report revealed that around 1.2 million people were killed in India in 2017 due to air pollution. Union minister highlighted initiatives taken by Centre and said aggressive campaigns have been organised in national capital to handle pollution.

"You must be already aware of our National Clean Air Program (NCAP) which we started pro-actively and aggressively to improve air quality in 102 cities, where we found that consistently for five years, PM 10 levels were beyond desirable levels. You kw about our graded response action plan and or activities like rules for dust mitigation and solid waste manment. We have been handling it in most aggressive manner," he asserted. 

Mr Vardhan, who is also Union Minister of Science and Techlogy, said 60 teams of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) were sent to national capital to tackle pollution mess. 

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He said results can be seen as compared to scenario in 2016, 2017 and 2018. minister also underlined that city government-led by Arvind Kejriwal was helped by Centre in every possible way to curb pollution woes. 

"On two occasions, we took initiatives jointly. Both governments ( Centre and Delhi government) did historic 15-20 days extensive drives by visiting various sites causing pollution in national capital," he said. 

"We informed chief minister and Lieutenant Goverr about it and last year, we made everything transparent on portal. We are helping city government in all possible ways," Mr Vardhan said.

BJP leader said mobile application SAFAR was launched for real-time monitoring of air pollution in city.

He, however, added that along with governments, public should also be conscious and responsible towards environment.

"Ultimately, people have to change ir habits and focus on 
environment-friendly actions. That is why, we launched Green Good Deeds movement in country which has been recognised by United Nations and talked about in BRICS. We our doing our best. 

"Waste manment rules were also modified in 2015-16 to make m eco-friendlier and more useful for society," Mr Vardhan said.

incumbent Chandni Chowk MP, who is sure of a clean sweep in Delhi in Lok Sabha polls, promised to take more steps for environment if voted to power again.

"We have already initiated many activities. We have launched best software in world for environmental proposals and clearances--PARIVESH. w next step is to ensure that states also have similar software. We have also reduced our clearance timing from 600 days to 100 days," he said. 

"Our ministry got highest award when PM Narendra Modi was conferred with earth care award by United Nations. On every front, we are trying to do our best. Next year, we will do much better and finish what we started in various fields," he added.