‘Need Central govt action on pollution not politics’

New Delhi : As the air in Delhi turned toxic on Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi hit out at the Central government’s alleged inaction and uncontrolled stubble burning in Madhya Pradesh and other neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for pushing the entire North India, including the national Capital, into a state of medical emergency.

Addressing mediapersons, the Delhi Chief Minister asked the Centre to stop indulging in politics and take concrete steps to address the problem that has impacted all north Indian states, including those ruled by the BJP.

Looking to shift the blame for the city’s toxic air on the BJP-led central government, she said, “I want the Central government to tell the people if it has taken even a single step in the last seven years to control the menace of stubble burning.”

“What steps has the Central government taken in the past seven years to check stubble burning in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,” she said.

To prove her point that the problem was not limited to Delhi, CM Atishi read out information from a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report indicating that since Sunday evening cities like Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur and Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh, Gurugram, Hisar, Dharuhera and Bahadurgarh in Haryana and even Churu in Rajasthan, have been battling bad air.

She credited Punjab, another AAP ruled state, for containing crop residue burning but alleged all other states in the north have failed to do so.

“If the Punjab government can reduce stubble burning, why are these incidents increasing in other states?” asked Atishi, claiming that in Punjab this year 8,404 farm fires were reported, as compared to 36,650 fires in 2023 and 71,300 fires in 2021.

Training her guns on the Madhya Pradesh government, she said between September 15 and September 17 about 9,600 stubble burning incidents took place there.

"Over 700 incidents of stubble burning are occurring daily in Madhya Pradesh, which is contributing to severe air quality. If you look at the air quality in other cities, it has also reached very poor and severe levels,” she said.

“The Central government has to take the lead and adopt a collective approach for tackling the problem as thetoxic air impacts elderly and children from all parties in all states,” she said, calling for an end to politics over the issue and an early solution.

The Chief Minister’s media briefing coincided with Delhi BJP’s protest in central Delhi where its leaders distributed free air masks to people near Krishi Bhawan Metro Station.

In a public appeal, Delhi BJP chief Sachdeva asked Delhiites to remain indoors and use masks for the next one week till the GRAP Stage IV provisions remain in force.

CM Atishi responded to the mask distribution by the BJP by saying there was no need to do politics over the issue.

“If Punjab can control the problem, so can others. Why are farm fires increasing in Haryana, UP and MP?” she asked and said that cities in BJP-ruled states were also experiencing severe air quality.

According to the CPCB, the majority of Delhi’s 39 monitoring stations recorded AQI readings above 450. Regions reported varying levels of air pollution, Noida's air was in the 'very poor' category with an AQI of 384, Faridabad registered 'poor' at 320, while Ghaziabad and Gurugram faced 'severe' conditions with AQIs of 400 and 446, respectively.