Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi led a protest by the Opposition parties at the Parliament complex over the issue of air pollution in Delhi.
Calling for the government’s immediatel intervention to address the issue, Gandhi said rising pollution level was affecting both children and the elderly alike.
"It is the government's responsibility to do something as children are dying. Old people like me are also finding it difficult," she told reporters after the protest.
"Air pollution is not a political issue. The government should take concrete action, we are all with it," said the Congress leader.
Congressnational president and the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, was also present at the protest where several MPS were seen wearing masks to highlight the problem of air pollution.
The MPs held a banner which read ‘Mauam ka maza lijiye’ (enjoy the weather), in an apparent jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi had made the similar remark at the start of the winter session of parliament.
Meanwhile, in Lok Sabha, Congress MPs Manickam Tagore, Manish Tewari and Vijayakumar alias Vijay Vasanth moved the notices to discuss the air quality in North India. The Congress leaders urged the Centre to declare pollution a national health emergency.
Delhi's air quality improved with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) standing at 299 at 8 am today, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
