Delhi
and it’s adjoining areas have been engulfed by a thick blanket of dust for the past
two days. The dust storm has purportedly originated from Afghanistan and has
entered the capital via Rajasthan. It is surprising that there was no prior warning
from the meteorological department of any impending storm. This is making the
meteorological department irrelevant. Most of the predictions of the meteorological
department do not turn out to be true. It is high time government took serious steps
to ensure that the scientists at the meteorological department are ably equipped to
give correct weather predictions. Maybe, the equipment and infrastructure required
for the same is insufficiently available.
But,
coming back to the dust storm, it has made life of the residents in the area
miserable. The air quality is in the ‘severe’ and ‘hazardous’ level in all the
areas. There has been a rise in respiratory problem cases being handled at
hospitals. There are advisories coming from various agencies asking people to
remain indoors. But what is the Delhi government doing to ameliorate the
condition of the general public? The Chief Minister and his cabinet members are
busy in a sit-in at the LG’s office for the past four days in protest against
the LG not ‘instructing’ the bureaucrats to call off the four-month old ‘strike’.
Whatever may be the rationale for the sit-in by the chief ministers and his
minister, the dust storm should have been viewed seriously by them and the
sit-in temporarily shelved so that the government takes appropriate action to
lessen the sufferings of the common man.
Mr.
Arvind Kejriwal, the name of your party is “AAM ADMI” (common man) and yet you
choose to ignore their sufferings. The common man is not worried about the
wrangling between you and the LG or even the PM. What is worrying is that you
continue to sit-in the air-conditioned office of the LG ignoring the common man.
This was the appropriate time when you should have risen above party politics
and as a Chief Minister, ensured that your ministers and the Delhi government
officers were on the street ensuring compliance of appropriate steps taken to reduce
the sufferings of the common man.
All
is still not lost, my friend. The meteorological department has forecast that this
condition will last for a few more days. Pray they prove wrong again, but if
this is true by fluke, you can redeem some of your lost goodwill.
