Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Sunday presented some figures to disprove Arvind Kejriwal’s claims and asked him to check facts before blaming Punjab (File photo)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Sunday rubbished his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal’s claim that stubble burning in Punjab was solely responsible for the high pollution levels in the national capital, and wondered whether the AAP chief can “really” be an IIT graduate.
Terming Kejriwal’s claim “nonsense”, Captain asked, “Can he really be an IIT graduate?”
The Punjab chief minister stated that Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) remains more than 300 even in the months of January and February when no stubble is burnt in any neighbouring states and this indicates that pollution in the national capital is generated from its own sources. Vehicular emission, construction activities, power plants, industrial activities, solid waste burning and sweeping activities in the city are some of the major sources of pollution there, he said.
On Thursday, Kejriwal had blamed Punjab for the rising air pollution in Delhi-NCR. Addressing a press conference, the Delhi CM revealed satellite photographs of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana and said the practice was largely prevalent in Punjab. Kejriwal had even accused the Centre of not providing straw management machinery to farmers.
He also said that his government had worked hard throughout the year to bring down the pollution levels. “Because of the efforts of the Delhi government and its people, pollution levels remained under control the whole year. I am not saying it is a good figure, but it remained below 200. And now it has jumped suddenly to over 400 after October 25. Overnight more vehicles or new industries have not been added or a dust storm has come. It happens each year and stubble burning is the cause of it,” he said.
However, Amarinder termed Kejriwal’s remarks as one of his many attempts to divert attention from his own government’s failure. “Having failed to deliver on governance to the people of the national capital, the chief minister was, as usual, trying to take refuge in falsehoods and fabrications,” he said.
Amarinder said Delhi’s AQI exceeds 400 mark due to high level of emissions by a large population confined in an area of NCR. During October, the wind velocity had decreased to less than 2km/hour, Captain said, referring to scientific data. Had stubble burning been the cause of the air pollution in NCR, Punjab would have been affected first, he claimed.
The data clearly proves that Kejriwal’s government has completely failed in tackling the pollution menace in Delhi and is now blaming others for the same, he said.
(With inputs from PTI)