The Aam Aadmi Party, which controls Delhi, declared on Monday that there has been a 50–67% decrease in the number of stubble-burning events in Punjab, which is administered by the AAP.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday for attributing Delhi’s extreme pollution to the BJP-ruled state of Haryana. The BJP said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP’s “polluted politics” were to blame for the declining air quality in the nation’s capital.
On the same day, the AAP-led Delhi government claimed that the number of stubble burning incidents in Punjab, one of its states, had dropped by 50–67%.
Haryana is only 100 kilometers from Delhi, while Punjab is 500 kilometers away. The party asserted on its official X handle that it is necessary to examine the actions taken by the Khattar government to mitigate the threat of pollution.
(Image Source : Hindustan Times)
Haryana is the source of polluting BS3 buses that travel to Delhi; the state has been considering purchasing 100 electric vehicles (EVs), but they haven’t done so; lengthy blackouts in Haryana lead to diesel generator pollution; Punjab has constructed nine stubble-dumping grounds; Delhi has 23.6 percent green cover, compared to 3.6 percent in Haryana, the statement continued.
In response to the accusations, Shehzad Poonawalla, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, stated that 3,000 cases of stubble burning were found in Punjab yesterday.
Because AAP and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have tainted politics, Delhi has turned into a gas chamber. The chief minister of Delhi used to claim that stubble burning in Punjab was the cause of pollution before he came to power there, he stated.
He claimed that the stubble issue will be resolved if the AAP arrives in Punjab. Over 3000 cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab yesterday. He told ANI what had occurred to the bio decomposer and the machines that were meant to be provided to farmers a month ago.
Harish Khurana, a Delhi BJP leader, stated that one of the main causes of Delhi’s pollution is stubble burning in Punjab.
In return, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attempted to attribute Haryana’s pollution problem in Delhi-NCR on Monday, pointing to the state’s closeness to the city.
Priyanka Kakkar, national spokesperson for the AAP, demanded an examination of the anti-pollution actions implemented by the Manohar Lal Khattar-led administration since 2014.
Additionally, the AAP spokesman reported that Delhi’s air pollution had decreased by 31%.
The central government stated in the Economic Survey 2022–2023 that Delhi’s air quality is at its highest point in the previous eight years. Additionally, CAQM data indicates that Punjab has seen a 50–67% decrease in stubbing burning.
In response to the worsening air-quality, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called a high-level meeting at the Delhi Secretariat at 12 pm on Monday, but the overall state of the air quality in the nation’s capital remained in the “severe” category. Delhi’s Early Warning System (EWS) predicts that the city’s air quality index (AQI) would remain at least ‘severe’ for the next few days.
On Sunday, the pollution control panel carried out the last phase of the GRAP anti-pollution program, which involves banning diesel trucks altogether. Additionally, it has mandated that fifty percent of workers in national capital area government and business offices work from home.
