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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 14 November 2024

As North India chokes, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan tweets on everything but pollution

The minister, an ENT surgeon, took the time to extol the virtues of winter carrots, among other things

The Telegraph New Delhi Published 03.11.19, 10:48 AM
 A view of Lodhi road shrouded in smog in New Delhi, Saturday, November 2, 2019.

A view of Lodhi road shrouded in smog in New Delhi, Saturday, November 2, 2019. PTI

Even as Delhi and the National Capital Region are engulfed in a hazardous smog, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan - who also happens to be an ear, nose and throat surgeon - has other issues on his mind.

In the past 24 hours, his tweets have been focused, among other things, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangkok, an Iskcon yatra, Chhatth Puja, robotic surgery, a world Sanskrit conference, the benefits of eating carrots, the late actor Prithviraj Kapoor, and the first Param Vir Chakra recipient Major Somnath Sharma.

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The Union minister also took the time to retweet and post a series of remarks on Modi's visit to Bangkok and the silver jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Ocean Technology, where he was a guest. No tweets could be found in his Twitter feed in the past day referring to the alarming pollution levels in the national capital.

However, only one tweet relating to the health hazard caused by spiking level of pollution in the Delhi-NCR region could be found. And that too talked about eating carrots, under the hashtag #EatRightIndia.

The health minister also posted about the birth anniversary of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Chhath Puja, and a conference on the Sanskrit language.

Several Delhi government officials, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, have been posting about the air pollution crisis.

Other politicians and celebrities too have shared their concern.

Pollution levels in Delhi shot up on Sunday again. A public health emergency was announced two days ago, with a ban on construction work. Schools have been declared shut until November 5.

Thirty-two flights were diverted as of Sunday morning, due to low visibility caused by the pollution.

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