 "Delhi pollution row: AAP blames Diwali but silent on parali, alleges BJP")
As pollution levels in Delhi spiked again on Tuesday the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Admi Party are engaged in a war of words.
BJP spokesperson has alleged that the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had made the national capital a gas chamber, and his party is silent on the internal causes of Delhi's pollution.
"Today, AQI in Delhi is crossing 400 in many areas. Note: No DIWALI, no crackers burst yesterday ; no crackers burst 10 days ago when AQI was 600 plus. Reason: Punjab Parali continues to burn despite SC warnings of 2611 farm fires in two days. 26000 plus farm fires in this season," Poonawalla posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
He further said that AAP government is only blaming Hindus, Diwali, the Centre, Haryana, and UP but is silent on Punjab Parali.
"There are also internal causes of pollution in Delhi- 1) Dust, 2) Industrial & construction, 3) vehicular pollution, 4) biomass burning 2) Industrial and construction, 3) vehicular pollution and 4) biomass burning. What did you do about this in last 9 years Gopal Rai?," he said.
"AAP will blame Hindus, Diwali, Centre, Haryana,UP but is silent on Punjab Parali. Silent on the internal causes of Delhi's pollution. Thank you, Kejriwal, for making Delhi a gas chamber," he added.
Air quality in parts of the national capital continued in the 'Severe' category on Tuesday morning as the city woke up once again to smog that limited visibility.
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Earlier today, BJP's IT Cell chief Amit Malviya also slammed the AAP government and said that some charlatans are blaming Deepawali for it, newspapers, flushed with AAP's ad spend, aren't even naming Punjab as the hot spot.
"AQI in Delhi, post Deepawali, is still far better than the highs of 900 plus levels registered a few days back. The rains brought some respite but with no check on raging farm fires, AQI is back in the severe category," Amit Malviya posted on X.
"Some charlatans are blaming Deepawali for it, newspapers, flushed with AAP's ad spend, aren't even naming Punjab as the hot spot. The problem lies in this compelling desire to blame Hindu festival for poor air quality while turning a blind eye to the real challenge. Unless we take off our blinkers and call out the real reason, Delhi will continue to choke," he added.
The AAP government in the state has hit back at the BJP alleging that the BJP was trying to cover up its role in not enforcing the fire-cracker ban.
"BJP is trying to hide its mistakes. I have heard the statements of many BJP leaders recently and all of them are trying to hush up their statements in different ways. There was no festival yesterday, so why were the firecrackers bursting yesterday? Where did they came from? A BJP leader said that the AAP government failed to stop firecrackers. You have Delhi Police. SC had imposed the ban, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana Police is in your hands, then who has failed? This means you wanted crackers to be burst," Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 9 am today in Delhi was at 361, which is considered 'Severe'.
At 6 am the AQI recorded at RK Puram was 417, Punjabi Bagh (410) ITO (430) Jahangirpuri (428), Anand Vihar (355), Ashok Vihar (355), IGI Airport T3 (426) and Rohini (417).
Despite the Supreme Court's ban on firecrackers to mitigate pollution, people in several parts of the national capital flouted the ban by bursting fireworks.