Stop blaming farmers for air pollution in Delhi: Harsimrat

Speaking in Parliament, the Bathinda MP said even after the ministry of environment, forest and climate change had said that stubble burning was not the major cause for air pollution in Delhi, the AAP government continued to defame the farmers of Punjab and Haryana

Former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi to stop blaming farmers of Punjab and Haryana for air pollution in the national capital.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Speaking in Parliament, the Bathinda MP said even after the ministry of environment, forest and climate change had said that stubble burning was not the major cause for air pollution in Delhi, the AAP government continued to defame the farmers of Punjab and Haryana.

“Studies have rather pointed out that stubble burning impact on the air quality in Delhi is negligible and that construction activities, industrial emissions and vehicular pollution is the major cause of air pollution in the national capital,” she said.

She asked the Union environment ministry to issue a white paper on the issue so as to set the record straight and end the unfair targeting of farmers and demanded the centre to give an alternative to farmers to phase out the practice of stubble burning.

She said that the Supreme Court had directed that farmers should be given ₹100 per quintal to manage their stubble but nothing has been done in this regard for the past three years.