Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has hit out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal over stubble-burning, asking him what he has done to check stubble-burning in Delhi, as many parts of country’s northern states continue to battle dense smog.
After Mr. Kejriwal last week wrote letters to the Chief Ministers in Punjab and Haryana, urging them to meet and jointly work to solve the air pollution issue, Mr. Khattar has responded to Mr. Kejriwal, asking “There are some 40,000 families, who cultivate around 40,000 hectares in Delhi. What steps have been taken to keep them from stubble-burning?”
Pointing out that no single person, organisation or government can improve the quality of air, Mr. Khattar wrote in a letter dated November 10, “Such collective problems require everyone to do their bit. And more importantly, a strong mechanism is needed to enhance the outcome of such constructive steps.”
“The bedrock of such a mechanism is a mindset. Unfortunately, your letter contains no hint of such a mindset. In fact, your reference to the helplessness of farmers in Punjab and Haryana in stubble-burning betrays an inability to rise above short-term electoral interests,” said Mr. Khattar.
Mr. Khattar added that publicly available satellite imagery data shows substantial reduction in stubble-burning cases and fires from 2014 onwards in Haryana.
Maintaining that he was willing to meet Mr. Kejriwal “anytime-anywhere” on the issue of solving problem of dangerously bad air in the national capital region, Mr. Khattar said that he was likely to be in Delhi on November 13 and 14.
“You (Mr. Kejriwal) may feel free to call me to fine-tune a mutually convenient date, time and venue for the meeting” said Mr. Khattar.
