Delhi will be free of air, water pollution in 3 years: Gadkari

Delhi will be completely free of air and water pollution in the next three years, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, stressing that it was his "promise" to the city, which goes to polls on May 12.

The government, he said had taken up projects worth Rs 50,000 crore to decongest Delhi.

"Our government has done 100 per cent corruption-free, transparent, time-bound, result-oriented and quality work and that is why Delhi will be free of air and water pollution in the next three years. This is my promise to you," Gadkari said at a press conference here.

He said the eastern and western peripheral issue of Delhi had reached the Supreme Court, adding that after becoming a Union minister, he had taken a decision to rid the national capital of water and air pollution.

"The AAP had introduced the odd-even formula. Ask them what happened to it. I had told them that nothing will happen. When we finished the work of the eastern and western peripheral, the pollution of Delhi had decreased by 32 per cent, because the traffic from Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand was diverted into the city," he said.

The Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation said to free Delhi of pollution, his ministry had taken up 13 projects worth Rs 4,500 crore in the Yamuna river under Namami Gange and sold dirty water to Indian Oil for Rs 20 crore.

"All my announcements are credible. I have built this credibility. No one can tell me that I have promised something and not delivered," he said.