NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday slammed Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai for not talking to Punjab over the issue of stubble burning, which the party alleged has risen in the northern state.
“Incidents of stubble burning and the area affected are increasing in Punjab, contributing significantly to pollution across North India, including Delhi. Despite repeated requests, the Delhi government’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai did not engage with Punjab on this issue,” the city BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said.
Notably, a BJP delegation, led by Sachdeva, visited the official residence of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann at Kapurthala House in Delhi to submit a memorandum in this regard but there was no meeting.
The saffron party members then submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Resident Commissioner’s office instead. In the memorandum, the BJP shared some figures of stubble burning incidents in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
As per the data, 360 farm fires were reported on October 26 which included 108 incidents in Punjab, 11 in Haryana and 16 in Uttar Pradesh.
“Though the number of incidents has decreased, the area burned increased by 26% compared to 2022. As the CM of an agricultural state, it is your responsibility to investigate and address the root causes of this issue,” the memorandum read.