BJP's Pradeep Bhandari blames AAP chief Kejriwal for Delhi's "life-threatening" air pollution

New Delhi: BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari on Sunday blamed Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the "life-threatening" level of air pollution in Delhi.
Bhandari alleged that Kejriwal was not there to serve the public but to make money through liquor scams.
"Pollution in Delhi is at a life-threatening level. Since 2015, he (Arvind Kejriwal) has been saying that he will take a dip in the Yamuna but till now he has not taken a dip in the Yamuna because the river is dirty and the situation is very bad due to pollution," Bhandari told ANI.
"Arvind Kejriwal can install 40 purifiers in his big bungalows and hotels but what about the person living in a slum, what about the poor person who cannot get an air purifier installed? Arvind Kejriwal will not understand because Arvind Kejriwal has become the party of only one special person, his job is to make money by doing liquor scams, his job is not to serve the public," he added.
His remarks came as the air quality deteriorated in the national capital on Sunday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) being recorded at 352, in the 'very poor' category, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
This is worse than the average AQI recorded at 255 on Saturday, categorized as 'poor'.
Moreover, AQI in Anand Vihar area crossed the 400 mark, being recorded as 405 at 7 AM, categorized as 'severe', worse than the AQI of 367 recorded on Saturday.
AQI at the Akshardham Temple deteriorated to 261, whereas IGI airport recorded an AQI of 324, both categorized as 'very poor.'
A layer of thick smog enveloped certain parts of the city.
Himanshu, a visitor to the national capital said that the increasing pollution feels 'suffocating.'
"It feels suffocating due to pollution...The govt should look into what can be done to reduce pollution," he told ANI.
Moreover, a cyclist in the city told ANI that they are facing a lot of problems with breathing.
"We are from Delhi and we (the cyclist group) cycle daily here, but this situation of air pollution since the last few days we are facing a lot of problems. We can't breathe properly, we get tired faster due to the pollution. We take precautions like wearing a bandana but nothing is working because the pollution is increasing a lot," he said.
He further said that the measures taken by the government don't seem effective enough, and the government should encourage the people to use public transport more.
"The government did some work like stopping construction and implementing odd-even but it doesn't seem like it is working as this is increasing day by day. There should be constructive measures to encourage people to use public transport and carpooling," he added.
As the festival of lights nears, the Delhi government has also banned firecrackers till January 1 amid efforts to curb pollution levels.
Moreover, toxic foam on the Yamuna river in the Kalindi Kunj area persisted. Earlier the pollution in the river became a topic of hot political debate between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with BJP leader Shazia Ilmi criticizing the Delhi government for its handling of the city's worsening pollution crisis, highlighting the alarming presence of toxic foam in the River Yamuna and the resulting breathing difficulties for residents.