After going back and forth over the smoggy conditions in the National Capital Region for almost a week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that he would meet his Haryana counterpart, Manohar Lal Khattar, in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Mr. Kejriwal had written to both the Haryana Chief Minister and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on November 8, asking to set up a meeting to discuss the prevailing pollution.
Mr. Kejriwal had written that since burning of crops by farmers in Haryana and Punjab had led to a spike in pollution in Delhi, there was a need for the States to work together to find a solution.
Khattar ‘very busy’
While the Punjab Chief Minister had said the Centre should take the lead and call a meeting, Mr. Khattar had kept mum till Monday, when he wrote a letter to Mr. Kejriwal. In his letter, Mr. Khattar said he was in Delhi on Monday and Tuesday and was open to a meeting with Mr. Kejriwal.
On Monday evening, Mr. Kejriwal said in a tweet that Mr. Khattar had called and said that though he would be in Delhi till Tuesday, he was very busy. Mr. Kejriwal said the Haryana Chief Minister had asked him to meet in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Labour and Development Minister Gopal Rai had attacked Mr. Khattar when asked about a potential meeting. Speaking at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Rai said it appeared that Mr. Khattar had taken “sanyas” or exile.
“The Delhi government is constantly monitoring the situation... What is the Haryana government doing? What is the Punjab government doing? The air quality in those States are worse,” he said, citing his experience of travelling to Rohtak on Sunday.
‘Small holdings in Delhi’
In his letter, Mr. Khattar had questioned the measures taken by the Delhi government to stop crop burning, saying that there was about 40,000 hectares under cultivation. This was in response to Mr. Kejriwal saying that the Haryana and Punjab governments had failed to give farmers an economically-viable alternative to burning the crop residue.
Responding to Mr. Khattar’s question, Mr. Rai said: “We have not seen any visual of crop burning in Delhi”. As per government sources, since Delhi farmers tend to have small holdings and only cultivate vegetables, they do not use mechanical harvesters, which leave residue that needs to be burnt.
