TMC's Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar wears mask to beat air pollution in Delhi

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

"There is a need to think about the increasing levels of air pollution in the national capital. We need to rise above politics and come together to find a solution. We need to find a way to fight climate change," she told ANI.

Earlier today, Members of Parliament (MPs) from BJP and Congress gave Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over the issue of air pollution.

BJP lawmakers RK Sinha, Vijay Goel, GVL Narasimha Rao and Narendra Jadhav and Congress member KTS Tulsi have given Zero Hour notice in the matter in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Congress MP Manish Tewari and BJD lawmaker Pinaki Misra are expected to initiate a discussion on air pollution and climate change in the Lok Sabha at around 2 pm.

The discussion assumes significance as Delhi and its adjoining regions have been battling severe pollution levels in the last few days mainly due to stubble burning by farmers in Haryana and Punjab. Air quality in the national capital deteriorates every winter owing to incidents of farm fires in the two states.

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.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 is marked as 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.