DMK MP urges govt to rethink holding winter session amid peak smog

DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson on Wednesday described Delhi as a “gas chamber”, urging the Union government to reconsider holding the winter session of Parliament during months when air pollution reaches its peak.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on a resolution to extend the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024 to Manipur, Wilson said air pollution had moved far beyond a “statutory concern” and had now become a “national emergency” requiring top-level intervention.

“Nowhere is pollution more visible than right here in the capital city. Delhi has become a gas chamber. Parliament cannot sit in silence while citizens gasp for survival,” Wilson said, noting that Delhi has not witnessed a single day in 2025 that meets WHO’s safe air quality standards.

According to him, the rise in pollution has shortened life expectancy in Delhi by over eight years. While stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab is often cited as a major cause, Wilson said vehicular emissions remain the largest contributor, compounded by what he termed “over-centralisation”.

“In this country, why should all work be carried out from Delhi? The government in 2025 does not need to work the same way it did in 1950,” he said, arguing that administrative concentration had placed an unsustainable burden on the capital.

Calls to avoid winter session during toxic air period

Wilson questioned the necessity of holding a winter session of Parliament in peak smog season, suggesting that the mandatory number of sittings could be met through other sessions.

“There is no constitutional mandate that every constitutional body must sit in Delhi,” he said. “The government must seriously consider whether Parliament’s winter session during peak smog months is even required.”

The DMK MP urged the Centre to decongest Delhi by distributing administrative responsibilities across the country.

“Let the government establish regional benches of the Supreme Court in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata and reduce the workload of the Supreme Court in Delhi,” he said. “Move ministries and statutory bodies to other states. Spread the administrative load across the country and allow Delhi to breathe good air.”

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category on Wednesday morning, with an AQI of 335 — the second consecutive day in this range. After a brief improvement on Sunday and Monday, pollution levels again slipped into the ‘very poor’ band on Tuesday.