Need of having a consolidated programme for fighting air pollution: KTS Tulsi

Congress lawmaker KTS Tulsi, who gave a Zero Hour notice in the Rajya Sabha over air pollution, stressed the need of having a consolidated programme to tackle the menace.

"My demand is that there should be a holistic view of things. 22 lakh children have suffered irreversible damage to their lungs.Everyone is passing the buck. Both the Centre and state are passing the buck," he told ANI on Tuesday.

"There has to be a consolidated programme for fighting pollution. It is not only in Delhi, but every city in the country is also polluted," Tulsi said.

Earlier today, BJP lawmakers RK Sinha, Vijay Goel, GVL Narasimha Rao and Narendra Jadhav, and Congress' KTS Tulsi gave Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over the issue of air pollution.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was spotted wearing a mask to protect herself from air pollution while she was on her way to Parliament for the winter session.

After days of 'severe' and 'very poor' air quality, the national capital and its nearby areas witnessed a change with the AQI improving to 'poor' category on Tuesday morning.

According to SAFAR, the relief from toxic air is temporary as the wind speed is going to slow down from November 20. Due to this, the air quality is likely to plunge to the 'severe' category on Thursday (November 21).

The overall AQI in the national capital docked at 218, which falls in the 'poor' category, as per SAFAR.

Meanwhile, the next meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee of Urban Development over air pollution in Delhi will be held on Wednesday.

The representatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Environment Ministry, municipal corporations and others are slated to attend the meeting.