New Delhi [India], May 15 (ANI): Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa hit out at former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi after the latter alleged that the AQI had reached 500 on Thursday morning.

Sirsa doubled down on Atishi and said that the diseases the Aam Aadmi Party government gave in the last 10 years were being cured by the BJP.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, 'I am very amazed that Atishi has been the CM and she is tweeting like this - yesterday, the weather department has told that there will be thunderstorms and duststorms - now, will we be blamed for such storms? But it's good that Atishi has expectations from us. But, the 'disease' that 'AAP-da' has given us for the last 10 years, we will make all efforts and will clean the air of Delhi.'

He further said that the mountains of garbage have been reduced by 50 percent in the national capital.

'The air quality of Delhi will also improve. She should ask former CM Arvind Kejriwal why the disease has been left uncured for the last 10 years, and now we are curing these diseases,' he added.

Earlier in a post on X, former Delhi CM Atishi claimed that the AQI was at 500 on Thursday morning.

'Delhi's AQI has never been so high in May. CPCB's own data shows that from 2022-2024, AQI on May 15 never exceeded 243. Today AQI is at 500. Will BJP take responsibility for the worsening air pollution in Delhi? Where is Delhi's Environment Minister @mssirsa?' Atishi shared on X.

As the Air Quality Index (AQI) Delhi climbed above 300 mark at several parts of Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal called out Bharaiya Janta Party saying that air pollution was never his bad during AAP regime at this time of year.

Taking to X, Arvind Kejriwal said, 'Air pollution was never this bad during AAP regime at this time of the year.'

In his post, Kejriwal attached a video by a media channel highlighting the increased pollution in the national capital. As of 1 pm, a high AQI of 382 was recorded by the CPCB on Thursday from Punjabi Bagh. An AQI of 283 was recorded at Anand Vihar, 331 at Ashok Vihar (Very Poor), 307 at RK Puram (Very Poor) and 298 at Bawana.

Meanwhile, Delhi environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa along with South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, visited the Okhla landfill site on Thursday.

Speaking on the situation of landfills in the country, Sirsa stated that the Delhi Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta was working on it and assured that by October 2025, 20 lakhs metric tonnes of legacy garbage would be removed.

'Just as dinosaurs became extinct, these landfills are also disappearing from the country. This is PM Modi's vision; which CM Rekha Gupta is working on. By October 2025, we will remove 20 lakhs metric tonnes of legacy garbage from here. After that, this mountain will almost disappear,' Sirsa told ANI. (ANI)