NEW DELHI: Sandeep Dikshit — the Congress candidate from New Delhi for the February 5 Assembly polls — on Saturday blamed the Aam Aadmi Party government for the air and water pollution in the capital, claiming it did nothing in the past 10 years while in power in Delhi. Addressing a press conference, Dikshit claimed there were around 5,500 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses in 2013, which have reduced to around 3,000 now.
“In 2013, 43 lakh people used to commute in DTC buses, but today only 41 lakh people travel in DTC and cluster buses. The numbers should have gone up to around 60-65 lakh given the increase in population, but it has dropped to 41 lakh. If these surplus 20-25 lakh people are opting for private transports, it clearly adds to pollution levels,” Dikshit said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal claimed in a podcast that he increased 50 per cent sewage capacity in Delhi, Dikshit said.
“In 1998-99, the total capacity of sewage treatment plants in Delhi was 360 mgd. When Congress lost Delhi (2013), the capacity was 613 mgd. In 2023, the total capacity was 632 mgd,” Dikshit claimed, refuting Kejriwal.
“I blame the AAP government’s mismanagement and dishonesty for the poisonous air and water in Delhi. It is because of the government’s incompetence that public transportation has not been augmented in the capital,” said the Congress leader, whose mother late Sheila Dikshit was a three-term chief minister of Delhi (1998-2013).
