‘Delhi govt must not ignore green concerns’

As Delhi gears up to usher in a new government, eminent environmentalist R.K. Pachauri is hopeful it would give the sector “high priority” and reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in effecting a real change on the climate front.

“Whichever party comes to power should treat environment as a high priority because it’s affecting the health of millions of people living here,” Pachauri, whose Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shared the Nobel Peace Prize, told IANS in an interview. 

Delhi, ranked the world’s worst polluted city by the World Health Organization in 2014, “needs a government with an unusual vision and leadership,” he added.

“When Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat (between 2001 and 2014), he asked TERI (The Energy and Resource Institute) to train his senior civil servants on climate change,” Pachauri, who heads TERI, said. 

“He had the vision and, therefore, an understanding and commitment to this subject. I would like to see something similar done in Delhi,” he added.

Air pollution in the national capital has risen to an alarming level in recent past but the issue hardly figured in the assembly election campaign.

The air quality index, as recorded by the US embassy on Feb 7, was found to be “very unhealthy” and at a level considered responsible for “significant aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with heart conditions and the elderly”.

The general population could also experience a significant increase in respiratory effects in general population, the embassy website said.

The ministry of earth sciences recorded the PM2.5 levels to have averaged between 76 and 84 micrograms per cubic metre during US President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to India last month.