Delhi turned into gas chamber due Punjab’s stubble burning: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, on Thursday alleged the AAP government’s “criminal failure” to provide alternatives to farmers in Punjab has “turned Delhi into a gas chamber”.

“This country is yet to see a bigger liar than Arvind Kejriwal. 93 percent of farm fire events this year have happened in Punjab, turning Delhi-NCR into a gas chamber, because Aam Aadmi Party has failed to provide alternatives to farmers. This is a criminal failure of governance on the part of AAP,” Bhupendre Yadav posted on X.

During the period from 15 September to 7 November, a total of 22,644 stubble-burning events have been recorded, out of which 20978 (93%) were in Punjab and 1605 (7%) in Haryana, center panel told in its meeting held on Wednesday.

During the discussion, it emerged that harvesting is more than 90% complete in Haryana whereas it is 60% complete in Punjab. Immediate steps are, therefore, needed to check further stubble burning during the remaining harvesting season, particularly in Punjab, government sources.

Delhi’s air quality persisted in the ‘severe’ category, with AQI recorded at 423 at 9 am on Thursday. as per the data by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 398 after crossing 400 (severe category) over the past few days.

In the wake of worsening air pollution in Delhi-NCR, schools have been asked to suspend physical classes till November 10. Additionally, the state government advised offices to implement work-from-home and enforced the odd-even car rationing scheme.

To combat air pollution further, the odd-even car rationing scheme will be enforced from November 13 to 20.

On Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) decided to enact Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across the National Capital Region (NCR) to prevent further air quality degradation.