Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday alleged that the BJP’s ideology favors rising air pollution levels as the party raised its voice in support of bursting of crackers but failed to provide cash incentives to farmers for not burning crop residues by the Punjab government. didn’t help.
Rai told reporters after inspecting a construction site here that Lt Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena would not have stopped the implementation of the “red light on vehicle off” campaign to reduce vehicular emissions in Delhi without the instructions of the saffron party. .
The LG had on October 29 halted the campaign and returned the file, questioning the effectiveness of such measures.
“The mindset and ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in favor of increasing the level of air pollution. Punjab would have seen a massive reduction in stubble burning if the Center supported the state government’s initiative of providing cash incentives to farmers for not burning crop residues,” Rai said.
“We also saw that BJP people were busy supporting bursting of firecrackers in Delhi (on Diwali). They also live in Delhi. We all should work together to fight air pollution. Delhi government is doing everything it can and we need support. I request people associated with BJP to back away from campaigns to increase air pollution.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the BJP should stop seeing air pollution as a problem of a particular political party or particular states.
In July, the governments of Delhi and Punjab jointly sent a proposal to the Center and the Air Quality Management Commission to help farmers in Punjab provide a cash incentive of Rs 2,500 per acre for not burning stubble.
Farmers say the cash incentive can help them cover the cost of fuel used in operating machinery for in-situ management of paddy straw.
In September, the AAP government had announced a complete ban on the sale, storage and use of firecrackers in Delhi. Rai had recently said that “less bursting of firecrackers” resulted in a 30 per cent drop in air pollution levels in the capital on Diwali night.
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