Succumbing to Delhi CM’s pressure: INLD

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today accused Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of succumbing to pressure from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who, the party alleged, was levelling false accusations against farmers for the air pollution.

Reacting to a meeting of the both the CMs in connection with smog in the NCR, Ashok Arora, state INLD president, alleged that by shifting the blame for the smog on stubble burning and farmers of Haryana, Kejriwal was trying to absolve himself of the responsibility and the state government was falling in his trap.

Arora said it was unfortunate that instead of defending the state farmers, the BJP government had initiated action against farmers.

He alleged that having failed to find a practical solution to the problem, the government had ordered action against the farmers and recovered Rs 18.65 lakh as penalty from them.

“According to the government’s own admission, FIRs against 244 farmers have been registered for burning stubble in their fields. The maximum numbers of farmers who have faced action are from Sirsa and Fatehabad districts which are far away from the NCR and can barely be blamed for the Delhi smog. As many as 301 farmers in Sirsa and 369 in in Fatehabad have faced action,” the INLD leader said.

Condemning the effort to lay the blame on state farmers, Arora said that almost a month had passed since stubble was burnt.

“The fact that even the NGT has made sharp comments about the ineffective and weak efforts of the Delhi Government to contain the smoke is a testimony to Kejriwal’s failures,” he said.

He demanded that till the government offered a pragmatic solution to stubble burning, no action should be taken against them.

He also demanded that the government should also withdraw the complaints that it had lodged against the farmers in this regard.