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New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) Holding the ruling Aam Aadmi Party responsible for the farm fires in Punjab, Delhi Forest and Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Tuesday said the air quality index (AQI) in the capital rose by 11 points after Diwali and accused the party of maligning the Hindu festival to please its vote bank.
He also rejected AAP’s demand for artificial rain in the city and said that it is an option, but it can be used only after favorable cloud conditions.
Addressing media persons, Sirsa hit out at the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for condemning Diwali and Hindu traditions for creating poor AQI around the festival.
“Before Diwali, the AQI was 335 and after Diwali it was 356,” he said, adding that there is not much difference because of this year’s Diwali celebrations, which also includes the Supreme Court-approved permission to burst green crackers.
“In fact, a set of old data shows that the AQI had worsened by 32 points after Diwali, when bursting of firecrackers was not allowed on the festival day,” he said.
The Environment Minister also sought to link the current AQI surge around Diwali to the tradition of bursting crackers on the festival of lights.
“Data shows that this year the permission to use green crackers has led to an 11-point increase in AQI from the day of Diwali to the next day of the festival,” he said.
Sirsa accused Kejriwal of hurting Hindu sentiments by blaming Diwali and related festivals for the toxic air in the city, while allowing polluting practices of other communities, the AAP’s vote bank.
He said, “AAP leaders are bringing Sanatan Dharma into the air pollution debate. They are blaming this festival associated with Lord Ram, without knowing that Diwali is a festival of Sanatan Dharma, not BJP.” He said that AAP leaders are defaming Sanatan Dharma for the politics of appeasement.
He said, “Arvind Kejriwal’s entire team is continuously cursing Diwali… Sanjay Singh and his associates have been tweeting since last night asking people to stop celebrating Diwali.”
Sirsa alleged that the AAP government in Punjab was part of a larger conspiracy to worsen the air quality in Delhi around Diwali.
“Punjab farmers are being forced to cover their faces to hide their identity and burning paddy residue in the fields so that the smoke can worsen the air quality in Delhi,” Sirsa said while sharing a video.
His comments came after AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj demanded cloud seeding for artificial rain in Delhi and claimed that Punjab’s AQI was less than 200 on Diwali, while it had crossed 300 in the national capital after the festival.
Bhardwaj also started a heated exchange with the BJP by claiming that the Delhi government was shirking its commitment of providing artificial rain a day after Diwali to clean the air.
Sirsa said that when Kejriwal was Delhi chief minister, he had criticized Punjab farmers and setting fire to their farms for the poor AQI in NCR, but failed to take concrete steps to address other factors causing pollution in the capital.
Kejriwal has left behind a polluting legacy of 27 years and the Rekha Gupta government is taking all possible steps to combat the problem by addressing the multiple factors behind Delhi’s pollution, the minister said.
–IANS
RCH/UK