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Farm fires in Punjab possibly affecting Haryana’s air quality: CM Khattar
Haryana CM Khattar was responding to media queries on state agriculture minister JP Dalal blaming Punjab for the smoky conditions in Haryana, on the sidelines of his Jan Samvad programme in Karnal.The minister on Saturday had slammed the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government over the number of stubble-burning cases in that state.
Observing that “pollution has no boundaries”, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said that it is quite possible that the bad air in Punjab could be polluting that in the state as well.
“…whenever there is a farm fire, the wind direction can take the polluted air anywhere, so it is not possible that there is no effect from Punjab in Haryana. When the Punjab air can affect the national capital, then why not Haryana,” the CM said.
He was responding to media queries on state agriculture minister JP Dalal blaming Punjab for the smoky conditions in Haryana, on the sidelines of his Jan Samvad programme in Karnal.
The minister on Saturday had slammed the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government over the number of stubble-burning cases in that state.
He took a dig and said, “We have demanded water from Kejriwal ji and Bhagwant Mann ji, not smoke of paddy stubble.”
Khattar, seconding his minister’s charge, also batted for a collective effort.
“As a state government, we have taken several measures for the welfare of the farmers, reducing the habit of stubble burning and making stubble commercially viable,” the CM said.
Air quality ‘severe’ in parts of state
Meanwhile, in some respite the Air Quality Index (AQI) in six districts of the state remained in the ‘severe’ category on Sunday, while it was ‘very poor’ in eight others, while a day before there were eight and seven districts in both categories, respectively.
As per the data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), those in the ‘severe’ category include Faridabad (450), Fatehabad (442), Kaithal (434), Hisar (427), Gurugram (402) and Jind (401).
In Sirsa (390), Narnaul (377), Bahadurgarh (363), Rohtak (362), Panipat (346), Kurukshetra (330), Karnal (319) and Bhiwani (310), the air was in ‘very poor’ category.
The AQI in joint state capital Chandigarh and bordering Ambala worsened from ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’. It remained ‘moderate’ in Panchkula and Yamunanagar for the third day.
The figures were average for the past 24 hours, according to the CPCB’s bulletin at 4 pm.
CM rides Haryana Roadways bus
While returning to Chandigarh after attending four Jan Samvad events in Karnal, Chief Minister Khattar’s cavalcade halted at Shahabad town of Kurukshetra late evening.
Officials said that the chief minister stopped near Nau Gaja Peer around 7 pm and had moong dal halwa at a tea stall.
After nearly 15 minutes, he boarded a Haryana Roadways bus bound for Katra and during the journey, he spoke to several passengers, while also trying to understand the e-ticketing process from the conductor.
Several elated passengers were seen capturing CM’s images on their mobiles and a woman even dialled one of her family members, who spoke to the CM.
Khattar later deboarded at Ambala Cantt bus stand and continued his journey to Chandigarh in his vehicle.
He was on the bus for nearly 20 km with his PSO.
