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New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) The BJP on Monday accused Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann of failing to help farmers find a real solution to the problem of stubble burning, which causes toxic smog in Delhi every year.
BJP’s national information and technology department in-charge Amit Malviya described the toxic smog in the national capital as “Arvind Kejriwal’s curse” and accused Punjab CM Mann of being more interested in “serving his masters in Delhi” rather than taking action to stop the suffocation of Delhiites.
“Every year, the same story is repeated – Delhi holds its breath while the AAP government in Punjab turns a blind eye to stubble burning. If only Bhagwant Mann had focused on helping farmers find real solutions instead of serving his masters in Delhi or deleting his own videos, Delhi-NCR would not be dying today,” Malviya said in a post on X.
He said, “The curse of Arvind Kejriwal has covered Delhi in poisonous smog.”
Malviya has earlier criticized the AAP-led Punjab government on several occasions for its failure to ban crop burning that worsens air quality across north India, including Delhi, during winter.
In September, the BJP leader had raised concerns over possible farm fires in Punjab and their harmful impact on Delhi’s air quality and asked Kejriwal to “urgently” address the issue.
“Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann should immediately address the issue of farm fires before Delhi and entire NCR start suffocating again. Public health and clean air cannot wait. The responsibility lies with the Aam Aadmi Party,” Malviya wrote on Twitter.
His comments come at a time when Kejriwal and his party’s government in the agricultural state claimed that Punjab’s farm fires have little role in worsening Delhi’s air quality in winter.
BJP and AAP have been at loggerheads for almost a decade now over Delhi’s toxic air and its link with farm fires in Punjab, with the BJP accusing Kejriwal of changing his stand on the link between farm fires and Delhi’s toxic air.
Last month, a meeting of state agriculture ministers with Union agriculture and environment ministers and officials in New Delhi discussed strategies to curb air pollution caused by stubble burning in Delhi and other northern states.
The meeting held at Krishi Bhawan, chaired by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, also discussed ways to promote better utilization of paddy residues and increase awareness, financial assistance, monitoring, crop management and diversification among farmers, an official statement said.
Other participants included Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Haryana Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana, Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi and Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
–IANS
RCH/UK