The Haryana government has released images it claims are from NASA, purportedly showing more than double incidents of stubble-burning in Punjab as compared to Haryana. The images were reportedly taken on October 25 and 26.
Haryana's move comes as Punjab claimed on Thursday that the number of stubble-burning incidents came down by 53 per cent between September 15 and October 25 in the state, as compared to the same period last year. According to the Punjab government, while there were 5,798 incidents last year, it was 2,704 this year.
The state government, led by AAP's Bhagwant Mann, cited timely distribution of machines, utilisation of machines lying idle, efforts to ensure maximum utilisation of stubble in various industries and awareness programmes to have contributed to the reduction.
However, the political row over farm fires between BJP and AAP took a new turn on Friday with the Haryana Government released the images, alleging that Punjab still reports over double the stubble burning incidents than Haryana.
The images released by Haryana government claiming to be from NASA showing more than double stubble burning incidents in Punjab as compared to Haryana on October 25 and 26 | ANI
While the AAP has blamed the BJP government in Haryana for the "threefold rise" in the number of stubble-burning cases in the state over the last year, the BJP accuses the Delhi government led by AAP of trying to cover up for Punjab. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) too had issued notices to the Punjab chief secretary and member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board.
After releasing the images, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s OSD (Officer on Special Duty) Jawahar Yadav told ANI that the images from NASA clearly show where more farm fires are rampant. "More than double stubble burning has occurred in Punjab as compared to Haryana. The Haryana government has brought it down. The silence of Arvind Kejriwal about the NASA data creates suspicion. He has alleged that Indian agencies are not giving data on pollution. Why does he need it now?," Yadav said. He added that the Punjab government has failed and "Kejriwal's face has been exposed in front of the public".
Delhi AQI is still poor
The national capital continued to suffer with the air quality still in the 'poor' category for the fifth consecutive day on Friday. The situation is likely to worsen in the coming days.
The city's average air quality index (AQI) stood at 256 at 9 am on Friday. Several areas recorded their AQI in the 'very poor' category. Delhi's 24-hour average AQI was 256 at 4 pm on Thursday, 243 on Wednesday and 220 on Tuesday. The Centre's Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi has predicted that the city's air quality is likely to deteriorate to 'very poor' category on Saturday.
