Time to stop blame game, pollution isn't limited to Delhi & Punjab: CM
New Delhi: CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Sardar Bhagwant Mann laid focus on pollution being a problem for entire North India and that it requires a concerted effort on part of the Centre.
The two Chief Ministers further explained that stubble burning wasn't the fault of the farmers, but a shortcoming on the side of the government which will not be allowed to be repeated in the future.
"Time to stop the blame game, pollution isn't limited to Delhi-Punjab, the whole of North India needs a concrete solution. We got only six months to work on the problem in Punjab and despite all challenges the Punjab Government made a concerted effort in a short while, the situation will be much better next year," Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, the primary schools will be closed in Delhi from Saturday tomorrow while the government is also exploring the option of Odd-Even to be implemented as well. The Delhi CM said that the Centre needs to hold joint meetings to work on the causes of pollution, this is the only way to save North India from the impact of pollution. The AQI levels of the cities of UP, Haryana, Bihar and Rajasthan are as bad as Delhi, Kejriwal said.
"The AQI level of all these cities isn't worsening because of Kejriwal, if abusing Kejriwal can reduce pollution, go ahead and do it. Yes, stubble is being burnt in Punjab, we take responsibility for it and the farmers can't be blamed for it," the Delhi CM said.
"We deployed 1.20 lac machines to tackle stubble, developed Bio-Energy Plant, built an app amongst other targeted efforts for stubble management. We will solve the problem of stubble by November next year, take my word for it," Mann added. The Punjab CM also sought the Centre's help and said that filing FIRs is not an index for pollution, neither is it a solution and pointed out that if someone isn't filing FIRs in their state it doesn't mean they aren't burning stubble.
Kejriwal further said that the matters concerns Haryana's Charkhi Dadri, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh, Jind, Manesar, UP's Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, and Rajasthan's Bhiwadi as well as all the areas suffer from severe AQI levels. In Haryana areas like Dharuhera, Kaithal, Ballabgarh, Panipat, Faridabad, Sonipat, Narnaul, Kurukshetra, and UP's Baghpat, Meerut, Kanpur, and Bihar's Motihari, Bettiah and Katihar also suffer from very poor AQI.
"We can't blame only the Aam Aadmi Party or Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann for it. The problem is much more complex than it seems. There's a variety of local factors, many regional and interstate factors," he said.
