New Delhi: Garbage mountains will go extinct like dinosaurs, electric buses will replace polluting vehicles and dust clouds over Delhi will finally clear—at least that’s what Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa claims, 100 days into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rule in the capital.
In an interview with ThePrint, Sirsa said May 2025 was the cleanest in a decade, except the COVID years, and credited the improvement to the BJP’s “ground-level governance” rather than what he called the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) “PR-heavy, policy-light” approach.
From BS6 vehicle enforcement to legacy landfill processing and EV adoption, Sirsa outlined a list of initiatives aimed at cleaning up Delhi’s air, while simultaneously hitting out at the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP for “vanishing when the work got tough”.
“May was the cleanest in 10 years. Thirty percent of pollution in Delhi comes from dust, and we are addressing that directly. Industrial areas, malls, construction sites, all are now monitored and registered with the Pollution Control Board,” Sirsa said.
“They looted Delhi for 10 years and ran to Punjab when they lost control. Like a fish without water, Kejriwal cannot survive without power,” he added.
The Delhi minister said the current administration had launched multiple layers of intervention to tackle pollution, from sprinklers and mechanical sweepers to air quality tracking and construction regulation.
According to Sirsa, tenders have been floated to deploy 1,000 water sprinklers and sweep all PWD roads using mechanical sweepers.
The EV transition is a cornerstone of the BJP’s pollution plan, he said, with hundreds of electric buses already added to the fleet and thousands of public charging stations installed. “By year-end, our target is 100 percent electric public transport.”
From 1 November, only BS6-compliant commercial vehicles will be allowed to enter the capital. “End-of-life vehicles from neighbouring states will be flagged at the borders and turned away using ANPR cameras. They will even get a WhatsApp alert,” he added.
‘Rs 60 crore spent on publicity, not pollution’
Sirsa took a dig at the AAP’s much-publicised odd-even scheme, calling it “a drama”. “They spent Rs 60 crore promoting it. If even half of that had been used to clean roads, we’d have had less dust,” he said.
Sirsa said the government had already cleared 50–60 lakh tonnes of legacy waste and reduced the height of garbage mountains by up to 20 metres at key landfill sites.
“We used inert waste for construction and combustible waste for fuel. By 2028, these landfills will be gone. People say dinosaurs can only be seen in photos—same with garbage mountains,” he said.
Regarding the Yamuna river, Sirsa claimed earlier clean-up efforts initiated by the lieutenant governor were stalled by court orders, allegedly under pressure from the AAP.
“Tapping of sewage drains is underway. We’re processing the sewage before it enters the river. The Haryana government is helping, too. It won’t be instant, but the work has started,” he said.
Responding to criticism over delays in implementing the BJP’s poll promise of monthly financial aid to women, Sirsa said Rs 5,100 crore had already been allocated.
“Our commitment is not to the opposition. It is to our sisters. They will get the Rs 2,500 per month directly into their accounts,” he said, accusing the AAP of failing to deliver even Rs 1,000 in Punjab.
Also Read: What’s making Delhi air deadlier
‘From looting Delhi to looting Punjab’
Sirsa reserved his strongest words for Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of abandoning Delhi after electoral setbacks.
“Kejriwal cannot live without power. The day he lost Delhi, he fled to Punjab. Manish Sisodia, a defeated MLA, is sitting in Punjab’s cabinet. They’ve turned governance into a side business,” he said. “They looted Delhi for years. Now they’re pillaging Punjab through unelected aides.”
On Punjab, Sirsa said the BJP was moving beyond traditional vote-bank politics and focusing on grassroots engagement with farmers, traders and landowners.
“We’ve returned to power in Delhi after 27 years, and we’ve earned the trust of every class, every community,” said Sirsa. “In Punjab, too, our approach isn’t driven by caste or vote-bank arithmetic. We’re not targeting one group; we’re reaching out to all.”
According to Sirsa, the BJP’s focus in Punjab is direct grassroots engagement. “We’re speaking to farmers, landowners, traders—people who’ve long felt unheard. Our goal is simple: talk to them, understand their issues, and solve their problems without middlemen or theatrics,” he said.
“Yes, the Akali Dal was our alliance partner,” Sirsa acknowledged. “They brought in the rural and Sikh vote, while the BJP focused on the urban and non-Sikh segments. That was the electoral arithmetic then.”
But with alliances shifting and political loyalties in flux, Sirsa argued that the BJP is no longer dependent on coalition math. “We’ve only contested one or two elections on our own. Even in our very first outing, we won three seats. Then came the Lok Sabha elections, and we won 32 (seats).”
Elections are due in the northern state in 2027.
Positioning the BJP as a serious alternative to both AAP and Congress in Punjab, Sirsa added: “Unlike the AAP’s photo-op politics or Congress’s legacy of inaction, we’ve built a grassroots network. Based on that, we’re confident of winning 50, maybe 55 seats, and forming a stable government.”
He framed the party’s pitch as one of governance over gimmicks. “Punjab has tried both the AAP and the Congress. What has it got? Broken promises, drug cartels, and visible collapse. The BJP offers law, order and delivery; that’s our difference,” he said.
He also claimed that the drug crisis in the state had reached “every household” and accused the police of complicity. “If the BJP gets even one chance in Punjab, we’ll clean it up, just like we’ve done in UP and Gujarat,” Sirsa said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: Don’t misdiagnose AAP defeat in Delhi election results. It will be fatal to democracy
