Javadekar on pollution: Delhi govt must give Rs 1,500 cr to Punjab, Haryana

The political wrangling over who is responsible for the worsening air pollution levels in Delhi post Diwali is continuing. A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana for “forcing” their farmers to burn stubble, a Union minister had a strange retort for the AAP supremo.

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Environment and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on Saturday castigated Kejriwal for indulging in a “blame game” over the pollution in Delhi.

Javadekar was quoted by ANI as saying, “I think it's unfortunate that a chief minister, instead of finding solutions to mitigate pollution, is into blame game. Instead of spending Rs 1,500 crore on ads, if Delhi government gives it to farmers of Punjab&Haryana, it will be more beneficial.”

Javadekar made the jibe while addressing press reporters when he arrived at the 50th International Film Festival in Goa on Saturday. Javadekar was asked questions on the pollution crisis in Delhi.

On Friday, Kejriwal had criticised the governments of Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana and Amarinder Singh in Punjab for not acting to curb burning of stubble by farmers in their states, a common practice in winters.

Later in the day, Javadekar accused Kejriwal of "politicising" the pollution issue in Delhi. Javadekar said the Central government had taken steps to curb air pollution in Delhi such as building of the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, which had diverted traffic away from the national capital.

He also blamed the Kejriwal government of delaying the use of a Central grant of Rs 3,500 crore for the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and a bypass road.