Environmental conservation has been a challenge for this city forever, but hope lies in what the soon-to-be-elected government will do to protect nature and fight climate change. Days after the BJP and Congress came out with their manifestos for the Lok Sabha elections, mid-day interacted with conservationists to find out what they feel about the parties' promises on matters related to the environment.

The ruling party's Sankalp Patra has a section called Forest and Environment, which speaks about what it plans to do if voted to power. The manifesto mentions, "We have ensured that forest and environmental clearances for eligible projects are issued speedily. We are committed to maintaining this pace through adoption of cleaner practices." It further mentions, "We will convert the National Clean Air Plan into a mission and focus on 102 most polluted cities in the country. Through concerted action, we will reduce the level of pollution in each of the mission cities by at least 35 percent over the next five years."