Unnecessarily being targeted, defamed for Delhi air pollution: Punjab farmers

ITDC INIDA EPRESS/ ITDC NEWS: Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered a contributing factor to the spike in pollution levels in Delhi in October and November every year.

Farmers in Punjab Tuesday said they were unnecessarily being targeted and defamed for air pollution in Delhi, asserting that industries, vehicles and the construction sector are the major sources of pollution in the national capital and not stubble burning.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered a contributing factor to the spike in pollution levels in Delhi in October and November every year.

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Amid the recent decline in air quality in the national capital, the AAP and the BJP have blamed stubble burning in states ruled by the other for the pollution.

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Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said most stubble burning incidents are being witnessed in the BJP-ruled Haryana and Uttar Pradesh whereas such cases are declining in his state.

On the other hand, Haryana Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Dalal on Saturday had slammed the Bhagwant Mann government over the stubble burning incidents in the state.

Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan Tuesday said farmers were unnecessarily being targeted and defamed for air pollution in Delhi.

He asked how it was possible that smoke from crop residue burning in Punjab could cause air pollution only in Delhi and not in Jalandhar, Amritsar and other districts of the state.

“Where farm fires are taking place, the air quality is good. How is it causing pollution 300 km away in Delhi?” wondered Kokrikalan.

It is vehicles, industries and the construction sector which pollute the air in Delhi, he asserted.

Read Here | Amid Delhi air pollution, Supreme Court's strong words for Punjab over stubble burning: 'Stop it’

Kokrikalan claimed that “farmers of Punjab are being defamed under a conspiracy”.

Paddy growers in Punjab continue to set crop residue ablaze to clear their fields to sow wheat crops as the window between harvesting and sowing the next crop is short.

Farmers have been advised to sow the wheat crop in the first fortnight of November as delayed sowing could result in a drop in the crop yield.