EPCA slams MCD, DDA for failing to curb Delhi pollution, says enforcement agencies are 'completely dormant'

New Delhi: EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal lashed out at Delhi’s civic and urban bodies for “not properly implementing” the directions issued to curb pollution. The Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) chairman said enforcing agencies were “completely dormant” and bodies like the DDA and the MCD were indulging in a blame game. “We have to confront the problems but enforcing agencies are dormant and indulge in blame game,” he said at an event at India Habitat Centre in Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_5467471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] Delhi’s air quality remained “very poor” on Monday due to slow wind speed and high humidity. Rejecting the allegation, North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta said the civic body “follows all instructions” as directed by the top court-appointed monitoring committee while DDA Vice-Chairman Tarun Kapoor said the urban body discharged all its duty diligently. Lal said the need of the hour was to preserve Delhi’s ecology which is “decaying and dying”. Countering the allegation, Gupta said, “It cannot be a military rule, or a magic wand cannot be waved to curb all problems. We take action as per the law, which takes time, but ir doesn’t mean we are not serious.” DDA’s Kapoor said the urban body discharges all its duties “diligently”. “Whatever court order comes on curbing pollution, we implement them as well,” he said. Lal also batted for improving public transport, especially the bus fleet of the city. “There are more cars in a family than there are family members. Delhi presently requires 15,000 buses but there are just 5,000,” the EPCA chairperson said. There is an urgent need to improve the public transportation system of the city if we wish to improve the pollution situation, he said. “How can we aspire to breathe when even court orders are being defied,” he said, without elaborating. He said the proposal to accommodate 2,000 more buses in the current infrastructure has been given to the Delhi government but no response has been received. He reiterated his call for minimising the use of private vehicles, saying “private car driving is a burden on each individual” and people should opt for public transport. Lal also expressed concern over the increasing population of the city, saying the present population is “five times” what it should have been. He said set three things right and the problems could be solved. The solutions are stopping open burning, using public transport and planting as many trees as one can.