A sharp political exchange marked a marathon discussion spanning over three hours on air pollution in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Friday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government mounting a data-heavy defence of its record while targeting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for what it called a decade of inaction.
Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa set the tone for the debate and said the government would confront the crisis head-on. “We will not run away from pollution. We will fight it, confront it, and eliminate it,” he told the House.
The counter by the Opposition was led by former environment minister Gopal Rai who alleged that pollution levels would fall if the BJP simply continued the AAP’s previous policies instead of trying to deploy “failed attempts” like inducing artificial rain.
Sirsa alleged said Delhi’s air quality worsened after 2014 even as landmark interventions such as CNG adoption and industrial relocation were already in place. Citing global rankings by WHO and IQAir, the minister said Delhi was repeatedly labelled the world’s most polluted Capital between 2014 and 2025.
He outlined a five-pillar strategy under chief minister Rekha Gupta, including dust and solid waste management, industrial controls, vehicular solutions, green cover expansion and institutional reforms.
He contrasted this with alleged publicity-driven measures like odd-even and smog towers. “While hundreds of crores were spent on optics, we are repairing roads, reducing garbage mountains and attacking real sources,” he said.
Detailing actions, Sirsa said biomining at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfills was removing about 35,000 metric tonnes of legacy waste daily, reclaiming 45 acres so far. On transport, he said the year-round ‘No PUC, No Fuel’ rule had shut fake centres and penalised non-compliant vehicles, while 7,500 electric buses are targeted by December 2026. He added that more than 10,000 acres have been notified as reserve forest for the first time since 1994.
Joining the attack, education minister Ashish Sood criticised what he called symbolism over solutions. “Wearing masks just to show severity is symbolism, not a solution. The Connaught Place smog tower is a complete failure… its capacity was less than even an exhaust fan,” Sood said, urging that it be preserved as a monument to 11 years of failure.
Sood also flagged unspent pollution funds and pending EV subsidies, saying the current government was clearing dues and tightening policy.
Meanwhile, AAP’s Rai told the Treasury Benches that pollution levels would fall if it “simply continued the measures” implemented in the regime led by Arvind Kejriwal.
Rai said political slogans and personal attacks could not clean Delhi’s air. Citing data, he said Delhi recorded only 109 “good air days” in 2016, which rose to 209 by 2018 due to sustained interventions, including round-the-clock electricity supply that reduced generator emissions and the use of PUSA bio-decomposer to curb stubble burning.
“Why did none of the BJP leaders talk about the failed artificial rain attempt despite public announcements. They spent three crores on an experiment that had to fail,” said Rai.
He also rebutted claims over smog towers, stating that on Supreme Court directions, two towers were installed, one by the Centre at Anand Vihar and another by the Delhi government at Connaught Place, and asked why only one featured in official narratives.
Calling pollution a matter of governance responsibility, Rai said repeated references to Kejriwal would not substitute for policy action. He urged the government to place complete data from agencies such as CPCB, CAQM and DPCC before the House and focus on implementation rather than rhetoric.
Assembly speaker Vijender Gupta later pointed out that while the CM was yet to make her speech in the assembly around 9pm, none of the opposition leaders were present in the session. “The fact that none of the opposition leaders are present during the discussion on pollution in the Assembly that they repeatedly asked for shows that their concerns are merely for optics,” said Gupta.
Concluding the session, CM Rekha Gupta said tackling pollution was a shared civic responsibility and not a political contest, asserting that her government was focused on solutions rather than blame. Gupta criticised previous administrations for relying on symbolic and short-term measures, saying Delhi needed structural and long-term interventions.
“We have started bio-mining of landfills, new biogas and e-waste processing plants will come up for the first time in Delhi, stricter vehicle fitness checks and large-scale road carpeting to control dust is being done. We are going to ensure end-to-end paving of all roads across Delhi. Environmental improvement is a continuous process requiring sustained government action and public participation,” said Gupta.