Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday raised stern objection to the claims of Delhi Environment Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) politician Gopal Rai over severe air pollution in the national capital.
The BJP said that the AAP government in Delhi and its minister just want to shift the blame to other states and don’t want to take responsibility.
Notably, the staunch remarks came after Rai said that that the smoke from farm fires in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is causing air pollution in Delhi while the stubble burning in Punjab does not have as much impact.
“Central government figures show that less stubble has been burned in Punjab this year in comparison to last year. Punjab's stubble smoke does not have as much impact on Delhi as that of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. This is because there is no movement in the wind. Only if the wind blows, the smoke of Punjab will reach Delhi. Right now, there is smoke all around Delhi. The smoke of stubble from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is reaching Delhi,” the Delhi minister stated.
Reacting to the claims of Rai, Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana told Sputnik India that Rai is just trying to shift the blame on BJP-ruled states for the incompetency of his government.
“The AQI of Delhi is 653 and when the people of the city need their State Chief he is busy in his political tours. The ministers in his government are trying to shift the blame but how will he contradict the data,” Khurana said.
The Delhi BJP secretary further said that as per data of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) the cases of stubble burning in Punjab were 5,140 while only 175 such cases were reported from Haryana.
“Instead of putting the blame on others, Gopal Rai should rather write to his party colleague and Punjab State Chief Bhagwant Mann to control the stubble burning in the state,” Khurana said.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Anila Singh told Sputnik India that it is an attempt to hide the failure of the AAP-led Punjab government who had promised during the elections that they will come up with a solution for paddy stubble burning but nothing has been done and farmers are forced to burn them thus increasing the pollution in the neighbouring states.
“The governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are proactive. They have given the solution to the farmers of their states. Instead of putting blame without checking the facts, the Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal should take a step forward and ask the governments of the neighbouring states to come together and solve the menace of air pollution,” Singh stated.
Notably, the air quality in Delhi remained in the ‘Severe’ on Sunday maintaining the streak of four days.
According to the data issued by SAFAR-India, the air quality in the Lodhi Road area was recorded at 385 (Very Poor) while at Delhi University area stands at 456 (Severe).