Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday in Gorakhpur hinted that large-scale stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana were responsible for the severe air pollution in Delhi and adjoining areas of National Capital Region.
Speaking at a function at Gorakhpur’s Digvijay Nath Post Graduate College, Mr. Adityanath said that as soon as he landed in Ghaziabad from Lucknow, there was darkness everywhere. He said he felt extreme irritation in his eyes, pointing that when he left from Lucknow, the skies were clear.
Mr. Adityanath also said when he told people to check the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) satellite update on stubble burning it was found that Punjab and Haryana were responsible since the stubble burning was taking place in the States.
“The day before yesterday Supreme Court issued notices to 5-6 states including Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi on pollution. On my way to Delhi, I landed at Ghaziabad, as soon as I stepped out of the aircraft my eyes started burning and I realised it was due to smog,” Mr. Adityanath said.
“When I checked NASA satellite images to see areas affected by stubble burning and industrial pollution, it was found that the whole of Punjab and northern parts of Haryana were indicated in ‘red’ (indicating stubble burning). When air from these states travelled, Delhi was covered in darkness,” Mr. Adityanath said while inaugurating a national conference on ‘Environment, Industrilization and Continuous Rural Development’ organised jointly by the Geography department and Indian Council of Social Science Research.
The U.P. CM added that the stubble burning has made Delhi into a ‘gas chamber’.
“Due to the stubble burning issue, Delhi is becoming a gas chamber. The growth in agricultural sector has paced ahead of the growth in technology, and the issue has become a challenge from environment and earth,” he said.
Mr. Adityanath hailed the ambitious Namami Gange Programme, and added that since the implementation of the project in 2016, the purity and cleanness of river Ganga has increased.
“Dolphins have started coming back to the Ganga river with improvement in the quality of its water through the Namami Gange Programme,” said the U.P. CM.
