AAP & BJP trade barbs over stubble burning

THE Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP traded sharp accusations on Tuesday over responsibility for Delhi’s crippling air pollution crisis, which continues to drive the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) past the 400-mark.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @New Delhi

Blaming the BJP-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other agencies for the city’s toxic smog, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Today I read in a newspaper that the contribution from stubble burning for city’s pollution is only 8% percent. This means 92% of this pollution is the responsibility of the Delhi government, MCD and all the agencies here which are all BJP controlled.”

Bharadwaj cited statements from two central government institutions—the Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, and the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research—to highlight a 95% reduction in stubble burning incidents in Punjab under the AAP government.