Delhiites are fascinated by cars, says Satyendar Jain

Speaking at the Indo-US workshop on combating air pollution in North India, Health minister Satyendar Jain acknowledged the fact that the poor air quality of Delhi is due to pollution.

Jain, however, also highlighted that not only Delhi but also other North Indian cities like Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Lucknow that were equally or even more polluted than Delhi.

On the reason of high air pollution in the city, Jain attributed the cause to city’s obsession with cars and mentioned that high consumer culture prevalent in the city was one of the main reasons of the high pollution in the city.

In citing that Delhi had highest number of cars than all the four major Metros of the country, Jain provided an example of working professionals and said: “When an executive starts doing well, the first thing he does is to take a loan and buy a car for himself.” 

 Listing down the priorities of the Delhi Government, Jain highlighted that the main focus of the government will be to provide top most priority to providing facilities in walking, cycling, enhancing of public transportation and the last option would be cars.

Satyendar Jain, who is also the PWD minister, said that there are efforts to improve the footpaths of the city.

In mentioning the ‘showoff’ culture present in the city that affects the environment, Jain asked for certain sacrifices and restraint for the sake of environment. “We are not here to destroy our beautiful planet, we must save it for future generations.”