New Delhi [India], October 21 : Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, on Tuesday, accused the Aam Aadmi Party of "forcing" Punjab farmers to burn stubble, which raises pollution levels in the national capital.
The minister, who addressed a press conference, showed videos of stubble burning in Punjab and alleged that farmers did not want to burn stubble but were being forced to do so.
"I want to show you how the Aam Aadmi Party is deliberately forcing farmers to burn stubble in Punjab by covering their faces... Farmers don't want to burn stubble, but they were told to do so. They've been forced to burn stubble by covering their faces, so that this stubble can have an impact on Delhi. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal spent ten years as Chief Minister, abusing the farmers of Punjab," he alleged.
Sirsa said the BJP government in Delhi has been, for the past nearly seven months, "working on a disease that had been going on for the past 27 years".
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), on Sunday, imposed Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR.
CAQM said actions under Stage I and II of the extant GRAP shall be implemented, monitored, and reviewed earnestly by all concerned agencies in the NCR to ensure that AQI levels do not slip further.
All implementing agencies have been asked to maintain a strict vigil and intensify measures to the extent specified in the GRAP schedule.
The concerned agencies have also been asked to take appropriate dust mitigation measures in the Delhi-NCR.