Clear air an essential poll issue for Delhi RWAs

New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS) Keeping in view the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi, various citizen groups from around the city on Monday unveiled a special manifesto that calls for making clean air an essential issue for the polls next month.

The manifesto, titled "People's Manifesto for Clean Air", includes specific goals that residents would like to see achieved in the next five years, such as 15,000 buses on the roads, 100 per cent doorstep collection of waste, and most critically, a 65 per cent reduction in air pollution by 2025 to meet national standards.

In an event organized at the India International Center here, representatives from all three major political parties - BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - declared their commitment to the "clean air" manifesto.

Speaking at the event, the residents' welfare associations (RWAs) umbrella body URJA President Atul Goyal said: "Delhi is looking for strong leadership that can bring in structural reforms and revamp the policies needed to improve the air quality of the city."

"The people of Delhi expect their leaders to demonstrate leadership and showcase their solutions for the air pollution crisis," he added.

One of the event organisers, My Right To Breathe (MRTB), spokesperson Ravina Raj Kohli said: "With 80 people dying every day due to pollution from particulate matter, Delhi's air pollution is a public health emergency."

"The 2020 Delhi state elections are a critical opportunity for the people of Delhi to learn from these political parties about what their intentions and commitments are, for improving the air quality and quality of life in Delhi," she added.