GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 28th Oct. In a call for urgent action, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pressed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday to address the state’s ongoing stubble-burning practices, which they claim are worsening Delhi’s air quality. A delegation of BJP leaders, led by Delhi state president Virendra Sachdeva, visited Delhi’s Kapurthala House to meet Mann, intending to hand-deliver a letter on the issue. As Mann was unavailable, the letter was submitted to the Resident Commissioner of Punjab in Delhi.
The delegation included prominent BJP figures like MLA Vijender Gupta, MP Bansuri Swaraj, Manoj Tiwari, and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. In the letter, the BJP highlighted the critical state of Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI), which has reached levels near 400, signaling severe pollution. They warned that as winter nears, air quality may deteriorate further due to stubble burning in Punjab.
The BJP letter cites data showing that while stubble-burning incidents reportedly declined, the actual area burned in 2023 rose by 26% from 2022, impacting over 19 lakh hectares. The letter disputes the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) narrative that blames neighboring states Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, noting that Punjab recorded 1,857 cases of stubble burning between September 15 and October 26, compared to 700 and 865 cases in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.
Additionally, the BJP referred to findings by Climate Trends, which indicate that seasonal winds carrying crop residue from Punjab could account for 20-40% of Delhi’s AQI spikes during this period. The party urged CM Mann to take stringent actions, including deploying crop residue management equipment, enforcing penalties for non-compliance, and improving paddy straw management.
In a final appeal, the BJP letter emphasized the need for immediate intervention to prevent hazardous AQI levels, asserting that CM Mann has “the power to save many lives” through timely action on stubble burning.
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