CM to address session titled ‘Breathe Deeply, City Solutions for Clean Air’

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address the C40 Climate Change Summit through videoconferencing on Friday, the Delhi government said in a statement here in the wake of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declining to permit him to visit Denmark to attend the event.

An eight-member delegation led by Mr. Kejriwal was denied necessary clearance by the MEA to fly to Copenhagen for the purpose as per a communication shared by it with the Delhi government on Wednesday.

According to the government, the Chief Minster had accepted the request of the summit organisers to deliver his address through videoconference in the session titled ‘Breathe Deeply, City Solutions for Clean Air.’

The Chief Minister will also address a joint press conference with Mayors of six major world cities at 12 p.m. on Friday, the statement said.

The MEA had denied permission to the Chief Minister, saying that clearance from “political angle” had been denied.

“The Chief Minister will on Friday address the C40 Climate Change Summit through videoconference during the session on solutions to tackle air pollution,” the statement read.

Mr. Kejriwal, the statement said, was also likely to share the experience of how Delhi became the first city in the world to successfully implement the odd-even experiment for restricting the vehicular traffic on the roads of the city, which led to a reduction in air pollution in the city.

Centre defends decision

On Wednesday, the Central government had defended its decision to deny permission to the Chief Minister to fly to the Danish Capital to attend the summit stating that the event was meant for “Mayor-level” participants with the Aam Aadmi Party countering the Centre’s decision as a “very lame excuse” and an insult to the people of Delhi.

Mr. Kejriwal was scheduled to leave for the summit on Tuesday but could not do so given the lack of necessary clearance from the MEA as per protocol. On Wednesday, the MEA said that Kejriwal was advised not to attend the World Mayors’ Summit as his visit there as a speaker at a panel discussion does not commensurate with the level of participation from other countries.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari took the opportunity to attack the Chief Minister and asked that he must clarify why he was planning to take a delegation of eight persons abroad at the expense of the government. “It shows that the government tried to spend the hard-earned money of the honest taxpayers on this visit. Kejriwal must answer what does he want to prove by misusing the public money,” Mr. Tiwari alleged.