NEW DELHI: Facing flak over the declining air quality in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday put the onus on his counterparts in Punjab and Haryana, urging them to act swiftly and effectively against stubble burning.
The air quality, which dropped to the ‘severe plus’ category on Friday, has now been labelled as ‘extremely hazardous’ for the city’s elderly and children. It has also put the government in the line of Opposition fire. The CM hit out at parties, which he said were blaming the people of Delhi for the free-falling air quality and were sitting on hunger strikes, undermining the seriousness of the situation.
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Taking a swipe at BJP leader Vijay Goel, who sat on the hunger strike on Friday to protest the government’s ‘inaction’ in checking pollution, the CM said, “An Opposition leader is on a hunger strike.
This does nothing but undermine the situation we are in. He’s making light of the people’s plight by resorting to such an action.
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“The smoke filling the city’s lungs is from crop burning in NCR states, especially Punjab and Haryana. I request Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana CM) and Captain Amarinder Singh (Punjab CM) to take urgent steps to reduce crop burning,” the CM said.
He was speaking at an event organised to distribute pollution masks to children. Each child was given a packet consisting of two masks.
“To leaders saying pollution can’t be blamed on stubble burning, I ask what else might have happened in a month to drive the city’s air quality to dangerous levels?” the CM said.