New Delhi: A political slugfest erupted over Delhi’s deteriorating air quality post-Diwali, with the Opposition AAP slamming the city government and the ruling BJP blaming stubble burning in Punjab, ruled by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, for the mess.
AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj sought to know from the Rekha Gupta-led BJP government in Delhi why it did not take steps to induce artificial rain to bring the situation under control.
He also alleged that banned firecrackers were burst during Diwali and questioned if the Delhi government was “hand in glove” with the firecracker manufacturing lobby.
The AAP leader also claimed that no air quality index (AQI) data on Diwali night was available and held the BJP responsible for it.
Hitting back, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, in a statement, accused AAP leaders, including Bharadwaj, of indulging in “appeasement politics to secure their minority vote bank” by pinning the blame of nose-diving air quality on Diwali and firecracker bursting.
“That is why they continue to spread confusion among the public on one issue or another. Currently, AAP leaders are making statements blaming the rise in pollution on firecrackers and are calling for another ban on them.” Sachdeva asserted that firecracker bursting on Diwali was a “welcome sign”, and there has been “no significant negative impact on the air pollution situation in the city”.
The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi on the morning of October 31, 2024, the day after last year’s Diwali under AAP rule, was recorded at 396. In comparison, on October 21 this year, Delhi’s average AQI was recorded at 356, Sachdeva said.
“Successive Congress and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP governments did no concrete work to control pollution or improve the situation. Now, when the Rekha Gupta-led BJP government is working in a planned manner to improve the situation, AAP leaders — experts in making statements — are actively trying to derail it,” he claimed.
Sachdeva asserted that the farmers in AAP-ruled Punjab were clearing their fields that involved stubble burning. Between October 11 and October 19, a total of 309 major stubble burning incidents were registered in Punjab, he claimed.
“It is shameful that the AAP government in Punjab neither helped the farmers earlier to prevent stubble burning nor is it offering any assistance now to the flood-affected farmers to stop them from burning stubble,” the BJP leader charged.
Sachdeva further stated it is “true” that pollution levels in Delhi have increased; however, it’s a fact that reports of stubble burning in Punjab started coming in two to three days before the pollution rise began on October 17.
AAP leaders hit out at the BJP government in Delhi, alleging that banned firecrackers were openly burst alongside the “so-called green ones”.
“Delhi’s AQI on my phone app is showing at 600. I have no idea what the BJP government has done to cause this. But the fact remains that the chief minister herself does not even know how to correctly pronounce AQI — yet she keeps talking about IQ, AIQ, and other such terms. She simply lacks that understanding,” Bharadawaj charged.
He further said the Delhi government had planned artificial rain after Diwali to control pollution, but nothing is happening, and asked whether the BJP wanted people to fall sick.