Amid the worsening air pollution in Delhi-NCR, former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi on Thursday tagged the Prime Minister's office on X seeking 'proactive' intervention in resolving the crisis affecting the region.
Speaking about Delhi-NCR's Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, she wrote on X early on Thursday, “I live in Indirapuram, and the AQI is 587 right now. I have not sent my child to school inspite of teachers messages. I have written a firm mail to the principal. Whatever is in my area of control I will do that,” and said, “Sir please intervene proactively,” tagging the prime minister's office and saying the situation is “Agonising. And depressing."
On Wednesday, Bedi described how the worsening environment has forced her, a habitual evening walker, indoors. “Can I remain captive in my own house with an air purifier?, she said in her conversation with India Today.
Her remarks came in a discussion that also touched on the political arguments surrounding the prolonged pollution emergency. As the opposition’s position was presented -- "now that the PM is yours, the CM is yours, the mayor is yours, the L-G is yours -- it was pointed out to Bedi that the BJP should be able to move beyond “raising the issue” and deliver solutions.
Previously, when former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal held power, the debate focused on questions around Delhi’s own governance and the responsibility of adjacent states, it was highlighted.
Bedi responded by referring to what she described as years of disjointed management: “Delhi was really out of control in many ways, in many many forms.” She added that this moment offers a chance for coordination because there is “no reason” why cooperation between the capital and neighboring regions cannot happen. According to her, more than 24 surrounding districts across UP, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab are all part of the problem, saying, “this requires political heavyweight, it's political decision making.”
Her shift in stance -- from asking earlier why everything should reach the prime minister’s desk to now requesting intervention -- was explained by her own lived experience.
“It’s now becoming a desperate situation… it’s like sinking in it,” she said, noting that she felt the severity only after becoming a Delhi resident a few years ago, unlike in 2017 when she was living in Pondicherry.
She said, “I never felt the bite in Pondicherry… an outsider cannot feel the bite as much as I am feeling now.”
She said she now believes “there’s one man who can get it… He leads and makes a team and makes them accountable,” recalling the prime minister once describing the situation as “aapda (disaster).”
On Thursday, the worsening air prompted the Supreme Court to list for December 3 a plea concerning Delhi-NCR’s deteriorating environment.
The amicus curiae, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, called it an “alarming situation in Delhi-NCR and it is a health emergency.”
The bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said that while the scale of the crisis is clear, judicial authority can go only so far: “What magic wand can a judicial forum exercise?”
CJI Kant stressed that experts -- not the Court -- must craft the solutions and that there is “no one reason for the problem.”
ANI reported the bench calling it “an issue affecting every resident of Delhi-NCR,” with the CJI saying the matter would be heard regularly and expressing hope that authorities “may have come up with something” before Monday.
On Wednesday, while hearing a matter related to West Bengal's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, he also mentioned personally experiencing discomfort after a 55-minute walk and acknowledged requests from senior advocates like Rakesh Dwivedi for virtual appearances due to the conditions.
A suggestion to temporarily shift hearings online is now under consideration.
Meanwhile, the Central Pollution Control Board’s latest figures underlined the severity: Delhi’s AQI touched 349 at 7 am on Thursday after recording 327 the previous afternoon.
Despite the withdrawal of GRAP Stage III restrictions, many stations showed ‘severe’ readings—Anand Vihar at 390, Wazirpur at 406, Bawana at 405—while Mandir Marg, the lowest, still stood at 243. Other locations such as Rohini and Vivek Vihar hit 400, Nehru Nagar marked 395, and multiple points including Okhla Phase-2, Patparganj, and JLN Stadium remained above 350.
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