Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena Friday wrote a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asking him to undertake “urgent” and “substantive” measures to control stubble burning in Punjab as it has converted Delhi-NCR into a “gas chamber”.
“It is with a sense of deep anguish that I wish to draw your attention to the pain and suffering that the people of Delhi have been experiencing through no fault of theirs, and request you to undertake urgent and substantive measures to control parali (stubble) burning in Punjab that has converted the national capital once again into a gas chamber,” he wrote.
Responding to the L-G’s letter, the Punjab CM said, “L-G sahib, you are stopping the work of the elected government in Delhi. You stopped the ‘Red Light on, Gaadi off’ campaign and are doing politics by writing to me? Doing politics on such a serious subject is not correct/right.”
Saxena also pointed out that 95% of smoke originates due to stubble burning in Punjab. “I got an opportunity to speak to Arvind Kejriwal ji, Hon’ble Delhi CM, in the morning today regarding the same and tried to get in touch with you over telephone wherein it was informed that you are in meetings.”
The L-G said that he failed to receive a call back from the Punjab CM and alleged that incidents of stubble burning have increased by 19% between October 24 and November 2 this year as compared to the previous years. “As on November 2, 2022, of the 3,825 cases of stubble burning in six states which are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, Punjab alone reported 3,634 cases, while Delhi reported zero,” read the letter.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal and Mann took responsibility for stubble burning in Punjab and said measures are being taken to resolve the issue by next year.
The L-G also took a swipe at the AAP government over the bio-decomposer issue and said, “The Government of GNCTD has gone out of the way to promote and publicise a ‘bio-decomposer’ for use by farmers, vide extensive and large scale advertisements in newspapers and television by spending crores of rupees.”
He further said, “It is surprising that despite these initiatives and interventions, cases of stubble burning, particularly in your state, have not only continued unabated but increased tragically, severely affecting air quality in the national capital amongst other places. I am once again sincerely and earnestly urging you to galvanise all available sources and machinery to make farmers become willing partners in defeating this repetitive menace and help the capital… breathe.”
The L-G further said he has also spoken to Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar about pollution, “though his state adds negligibly to this menace”.