Punjab Agriculture Minister: Can’t be blamed for pollution in Haryana, NCR

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, November 5

The state government says it cannot be blamed for the severe pollution and smog enveloping neighbouring Haryana and parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) when incidents of farm fires in the state are down by 47 per cent and the air quality in no city of the state has been recorded as “severe”.

Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, while speaking to The Tribune here today, said defaming Punjab and its farmers for causing pollution in most parts of North India was a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. He was speaking in context of the allegations levelled by the neighbouring Haryana Government, blaming Punjab for the smog that has enveloped most of North India.

“The incidents of farm fires in the state are down by 47 per cent over last year and the air quality in most parts of the state is “poor”. Barring Bathinda, the air quality in the state is less than 300,” he said, adding that against 24,000 incidents of farm fire recorded in the state till date last year, the number of incidents this year was down to 12,800.

Data shows that other than Bathinda, where the air quality was recorded as “severe” at 407 points early in the morning and came down to “very poor” at 375 in the evening, the air quality in all other parts of the state was recorded as “poor” at less than 300. The AQI at the two industrial towns — Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh — came down from 300 in the morning to 243 and 291, respectively, in the evening. At 4 pm today, the AQI was recorded at 178 in Amritsar, 261 in Jalandhar, 255 in Khanna and 248 in Patiala, according to the National Air Quality Index of the Central Pollution Control Board.

The Agriculture Minister said rather than blaming Punjab for causing pollution, when even the wind was blowing westwards rather than south eastwards, he would urge the Haryana Government to get a scientific analysis of the weather conditions that are carrying the smog to the neighbouring state and to Delhi done. “I assure Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal of full cooperation in getting a scientific study done so that he stops making such baseless allegations against our state,” he said.

The minister said this time a concerted focus on creating awareness against the practice of stubble burning affecting soil fertility and in situ stubble management leading to higher yield of two quintals per acre in the next wheat crop, besides several ex situ stubble management options available to farmers, was responsible for a fall in farm fire incidents. Mostly, the incidents have been reported on very small area of plots, he said.

‘Deep-rooted conspiracy’

• Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Khudian said defaming Punjab and its farmers for causing pollution was a “deep-rooted conspiracy”
• “I assure Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal of full cooperation in getting a scientific study done so that he stops making such baseless allegations against our state,” he said

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#Agriculture #Environment #Farm Fires #Gurmeet Singh Khudian #Pollution