Sunita Narain takes on Minister Dave

​New Delhi: Environmentalist Sunita Narain on Thursday criticised Environment Minister Anil Dave for trashing a report which said that air pollution causes more premature deaths in India than in China.

In a Facebook Live session, Narain, the Chief Executive of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said air pollution was a national crisis and the minister cannot "abdicate" his responsibility to deal with the situation.

"I was shocked to see the comments of the minister. There is more than enough evidence that shows air pollution kills. If the minister is in denial that it is extremely unfortunate. It's a national crisis and the minister cannot abdicate his responsibility to deal with it... It's a national emergency, not a Delhi emergency," she said. Dave had recently expressed his reservations on the 'State of Global

Air 2017' report on deaths due to air pollution saying such reports are often based on extrapolation "without" due scientific validation.

It had claimed that surpassing China, India now accounts for the maximum number of premature deaths from ozone pollution and was second in terms of early deaths due to ultrafine particulate PM 2.5. Speaking during the session, Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE expert, said barring November, when pollution hit a record high, Delhi enjoyed a relatively better winter this year in terms of air quality.

"Post November, the monthly averages (of pollution) have been lower than the previous winter," she explained.