Delhi pollution: Shatrughan Sinha mocks Clean India Movement, says clean air first

Shatrughan Sinha takes a dig at PM Narendra Modi's Clean India Movement and said the need of the hour is to clean the air first instead of having 'knee-jerk reactions.'

Future in trouble? School children wear masks as they take part in a march to raise awareness around air pollution. (IANS Photo)

New Delhi: Veteran actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday questioned the Clean India Movement at a time when even foreign media outlets are highlighting the alarming levels of pollution in Delhi. Taking a dig at what he termed were 'knee-jerk reactions', he said opinions of experts and professionals must be sought to tackle the problem.

The BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP from Patna Sahib tweeted a page from Washington Post which carried an article headlined 'New Delhi chokes in suffocating pollution.' The report focused on the toxic air quality in the city and also carried three photos showing the situation at hand here. 

Sinha, through his tweet, said that it was high-time effective measures were put in place. "Delhi@most polluted city. Have some experts & professional ON rather than stopping thousands of trucks at the Delhi border@Knee Jerk reaction.Another sanitation hazard (sic)," he wrote on the microblogging website.

"स्वत्छ भारत बनेगा India"-Now even the Washington Post @ Japan News acknowledges (15 Nov). कैसे बनेगा साहेब ?. Delhi@most polluted city. Have some experts & professional ON rather than stopping thousands of trucks at the Delhi border@Knee Jerk reaction.Another sanitation hazard. pic.twitter.com/3x8aGLhN2b — Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 16, 2017

The 71-year-old, who has shared a tumultuous relationship with the BJP, was referring to the move to ban trucks carrying non-essential commodities from entering Delhi in a bid to control air pollution. These and other measures like ban on open construction have, however, failed to improve air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The NCR though is not alone in breathing poison. Several cities in northern India have had very poor air quality for most parts of November. While medical experts have called it a health emergency, and environmental experts have repeatedly sounded alarm bells, remedial measures on the ground remain few and far in between.