‘Help Delhi, NCR breathe easy’: L-G Saxena flags stubble burning in Haryana, Punjab
Terming it the only “non-performing outlier” when it came to the five states that affect Delhi’s air quality, Saxena squarely blamed Punjab for the deterioration in the AQI given the magnitude of crop residue burning last year.
3 min read
Delhi, the L-G said, was not only home to more than 2 crore people but is also visited by numerous tourists and foreign envoys, and their exposure to “debilitating air pollution” had a negative bearing on India’s international image and standing. (Express photo) Flagging spiralling statistics related to instances of stubble burning in their respective states and their detrimental effect on the air quality of the capital with winter around the corner, Delhi L-G VK Saxena Saturday wrote to the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab and asked them to take remedial measures.
Terming it the only “non-performing outlier” when it came to the five states that affect Delhi’s air quality, Saxena squarely blamed Punjab for the deterioration in the AQI given the magnitude of crop residue burning last year; Haryana, he stated, had performed “exemplarily” in this regard.
Delhi, the L-G said, was not only home to more than 2 crore people but is also visited by numerous tourists and foreign envoys, and their exposure to “debilitating air pollution” had a negative bearing on India’s international image and standing.
“… I would like to underline that last year, Haryana had performed exemplarily as far as controlling burning of parali is concerned and helped mitigate the problem, which primarily occurred due to smoke/smog from Punjab,” Saxena stated in his communication to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Saxena did, however, term “extremely worrisome” that incidents of crop residue burning in Haryana between September 15 and October 11 had reached 340, which was 257 more than the figure of 83 in the corresponding period during 2022.
In Punjab, the L-G stated in his letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that 1,063 incidents of crop burning had been recorded from September 15 to October 11 – 300 more than the figure in the corresponding period during 2022.
“… You may recall that last year when I had written to you… Delhi was choking under pollution caused by smoke from across its borders… Between 24.10.2022 and 2.11.2022, there had been an increase of 19% in incidents of parali burning, in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year,” Saxena stated.
“… You would also recall that last year, of the five states that affect Delhi’s air quality, Punjab had remained the only non-performing outlier… You as well as Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi, Shri Arvind Kejriwal, had then assured that such eventuality will not be repeated,” he added.
While the authorities concerned in Delhi were taking all steps to ensure local causes of air pollution like vehicular emissions and dust from roads and pavements were fully addressed, the issue of stubble burning in both states while winter sets in were “extremely worrisome”, he added.
Urging both Khattar and Mann to galvanise all available resources and make farmers in their respective states willing partners in defeating “this deadly menace”, Saxena asked both to help the Capital and the entire NCR “breathe easy”.
You May Like
