Stop lying on pollution in Delhi, Amarinder tells Kejriwal

Chandigarh, Oct 15 (IANS) : Welcoming the latest data on the link between Delhis pollution and stubble burning as vindication of his governments stand on the issue, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday asked Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal to "stop lying to divert attention from his own failure to protect the national capitals environment".Hours after Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that stubble burning contributes to only four per cent of PM 2.

5 pollution in the NCR, with the rest caused by local factors, Amarinder Singh slammed Kejriwal for refusing to accept the results of comprehensive studies on the issue.In fact, it was Kejriwal who was in denial, said Amarinder Singh, reacting to the Delhi Chief Ministers remark about "being in denial not helping".

If Kejriwal is serious about addressing Delhis crisis, he should stop being in denial immediately and get down to the task of finding solutions in right earnest, he added.Kejriwal, said the Chief Minister, had been "spreading misinformation on the issue with the sole agenda of keeping Delhiites in the dark about the actual situation, which his government had failed miserably to handle over the years".

"The fact is that there is absolutely no data to support the claims of the Delhi Chief Minister," he said, adding that, in contrast, studies showed that stubble burning was only a miniscule part of the national capitals problem.The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), in a research paper based on data for 2018 and 2019, has found that Delhis pollution is localised and not attributable to the farm fires in Punjab or the NCR.It pointed out that AQI for Punjab is much better than in Delhi.Amarinder Singh pointed out that this is something Punjab has been maintaining for the past several years, with the pollution levels in the state nowhere near as bad as those in Delhi.

"Even today, the skies in Punjab are clear and the AQI levels much better than those in Delhi," he noted, adding that even a child can see the difference between the two "but the Delhi Chief Minister has persistently chosen to conveniently ignore this and blamed Punjab for a mess of his own making".The Punjab Chief Minister pointed out that there were clear indicators to show that the main causes of Delhis pollution were construction, waste demolition, dust, etc, all of which push pollutants into the air.In winter, due to the weather conditions, these pollutants stay in the air much longer, which clearly cause the situation to aggravate, which everyone but Kejriwal can clearly see and realise, he added.