BJP leaders on Tuesday staged a protest against the AAP government and distributed face masks at the most polluted areas of the city, Anand Vihar and ITO, as Delhi continued to grapple with severe air pollution.

During an awareness-cum-mask distribution programme at Anand Vihar, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva slammed Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Atishi, alleging the government’s inaction in addressing the pollution crisis.

“The people of Delhi are struggling for their breaths while Kejriwal and Atishi are defending AAP government in Punjab where crop stubble burning is choking the national capital. The condition of damaged roads and dust pollution has worsened the situation further,” Sachdeva claimed.

Former Union Minister Vijay Goel staged a protest at ITO, and alleged that the AAP government in Delhi has failed to help the people struggling against the persisting hazardous air in the city.

Goel questioned how many more years it will take for Kejriwal to address Delhi’s pollution effectively, and charged that over the past 10 years AAP government has relied on rhetoric than serious measures to tackle the issue of air pollution in winters.

He said that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Delhi has touched 500, and in some places even reached 1133.

The AAP government has turned Delhi into a gas chamber and people in the city can not go out for morning walk because of pollution, he added.