Union Minister Hardeep Puri puts AAP Punjab govt in dock, says take initiative on stubble burning

Union Minister Hardeep Puri Friday said that the initiative to solve the stubble-burning problem must come from Punjab since now Aam Aadmi Party governs the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier used to blame neighbouring states for not doing enough against stubble burning, which was the major contributor to deteriorating air quality in the national capital around October-November in the last few years.

Now that his own party is in power in Punjab, Puri has asked the state to take the initiative to deal with the problem.

“Earlier they (AAP) used to blame neighbouring state governments but now they have a government in Punjab. We are helping out in our own way. We are making ethanol from stubble…” said Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Earlier in the day Kejriwal claimed that Punjab’s AAP government was able to bring down stubble burning by “30 per cent.”

“In Punjab, we formed our Government in March last year. The data from last year shows the steps taken in 6-7 months led to a 30 per cent reduction in stubble burning. This year Bhagwant Mann has taken several steps,” he said.

The Delhi CM also claimed that the Punjab government has taken a number of steps to make sure that farmers didn’t need to burn stubble in the first place.

“One of which is the diversification of crops – instead of paddy grow other crops. This will save water and lower stubble burning. It has yielded good results. Secondly, the varieties of paddy – the short-term varieties have. This has less stubble and it need not be burnt. Ex-situ management of stubble – for this a few companies have adopted districts and will carry their stubble to convert it into manure or electricity…I think there should be improvement this year.”

Air quality index in and around the national capital crosses into the Hazardous category (300-500 AQI) in November in the last couple of years: 371 and 320 in 2021 and 2022 respectively.