China Offers Air Pollution Solutions as Delhi Sees Slight Improvement

The Chinese Embassy in India offered several ways to tackle air pollution on Tuesday — stressing the need for vehicle emissions control as step one. The remarks came even as the air quality in Delhi turned ‘severe plus’ over the weekend and a toxic haze descended upon the city. Environmental Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa also issued an apology on Tuesday while insisting that the current situation was “impossible” to fix within 10 months. “How did Beijing tackle air pollution? Step 1: Vehicle emissions control – Adopt ultra-strict regulations like China 6NI (on par with Euro 6). Phase-out retired old, high-emission vehicles. Curb car growth via license-plate lotteries and odd-even/weekday driving rules. Build one of the world’s largest metro and bus networks. Accelerate the shift to electric mobility. Work with the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region on coordinated emissions cuts. Cleaner air doesn’t happen overnight—but it is achievable,” Embassy spokesperson Yu Jing wrote on X. It is pertinent to note that many of these policies — such as the use of odd-even driving rules and expansion of public transit systems have already been introduced in Delhi. Neither the previous AAP government nor the current administration led by the BJP have attempted to introduce “license-plate lotteries” or adopt “ultra strict regulations”. The developments came even as Delhi Environmental Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa laid the blame squarely on the previous Aam Aadmi Party government. He insisted on Tuesday that it would take some time to ‘fix’ the situation and assured that the BJP administration was doing “better work” to address air pollution. He revealed that the Delhi government had also decided that vehicles would not be allowed to refuel in the city unless they held a valid pollution control certificate. “It is impossible for any elected government to reduce AQI in 9-10 months. I apologise for the pollution in Delhi. We are doing better work than the dishonest AAP government, and we have reduced AQI each day. This disease of pollution is given to us by the Aam Aadmi Party, and we are working to fix it,” he said. Air quality in the national capital saw a slight improvement with an AQI of 377 on Tuesday morning. The number is an improvement from the 498 recorded a day ago. Smog continued to blanket the city and reduce visibility as residents shivered at 8.3 degrees Celsius during the morning hours.