Congress, BJP give zero hour notice in Rajya Sabha over air pollution crisis

The BJP and Congress MPs give a Zero Hour notice over severe air pollution crisis in the national capital. The Zero Hour is the time period following the Question Hour in both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament where parliamentarians can raise matters of concern without the mandatory ten days advance notice. Members from the BJP, RK Sinha, Vijay Goel, GVL Narasimha Rao and Narendra Jadhav along with Congress MP KTS Tulsi used the Zero Hour notice in the Rajya Sabha to highlight the air quality concerns that surrounds the national capital.  

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A similar discussion is expected to take place in the Lok Sabha as well on Tuesday afternoon. Congress MP Manish Tewari and BJD lawmaker Pinaki Misra are expected to initiate the discussion in the Lower House of the Parliament at around 2 pm. The need for the Zero Hour notice comes after the air quality index reached the severe category mark in the national capital. The Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, CK Mishra held a high-level meeting on air pollution on Monday to monitor the measures that are being adopted to curb the situation. 

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Need for Zero Hour notice

The need for a Zero Hour notice in the houses come a day after Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi protested in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue wearing an anti-pollution mask in the Parliament premises to draw the attention of the PM on the deteriorating air quality in the Delhi-NCR region.

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The root cause of the poisonous smog has been attributed to stubble burning by farmers in neighboring states like Punjab and Haryana. The Air quality in the national capital deteriorates every winter owing to these farm fires however the 1981 air pollution law seems ineffective in dealing with the present pollution scenario. Meanwhile, the Air Quality Index (AQI) read 212 ('poor' category), near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday morning, as per the data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). (ANI) 

(Inputs from ANI)