As many parts of northern States battled smog and air pollution, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar met here on Wednesday and agreed upon measures to prevent re-occurrence of smog in the winter of 2018.
“We are happy to have had a very fruitful meeting. We recognise our deep and shared concerns over the heavy smog in the National Capital Region and hence have agreed upon the need for measures to prevent its re-occurrence in the winter of 2018,” the Chief Ministers said in a joint statement. Expressing concern over rising air pollution, the two States agreed that quick action was required to tackle the serious health risks.
“We discussed the issues of crop-residue burning and vehicular pollution and resolved to make sustained efforts in pursuance of the jointly identified action points in coming days, weeks and months,” the statement said.
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The meeting also decided that both States continue talks on other sources of air and water pollution in the near future.
Besides Mr. Kejriwal, Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Environment Department Secretary Keshav Chandra were present. Haryana’s Environment Minister Vipul Goel, Chief Secretary D.S.Dhesi and Additional Chief Secretary (Environment) Dheera Khandelwal attended the meeting.
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Meanwhile, Punjab Irrigation and Power Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh accused Mr. Kejriwal of trying to divert Delhi electors’ attention from his failures by involving the Punjab and Haryana governments [in the issue]. “The solution to problems in Delhi does not lie in Punjab or Haryana but in Delhi itself...,” Mr. Rana said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal called Mr. Kejriwal’s visit to Chandigarh a media stunt and said it did not yield anything.
Earlier in the day, Shiromani Akali Dal activists showed the black flag to Mr. Kejriwal’s cavalcade to protest against the AAP’s failure to act against its MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who has been summoned by a trial court in a drugs smuggling case.