Punjab Government Denies BJP Claims Over Stubble Burning

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of defaming farmers to divert attention from administrative failures regarding the pollution crisis in Delhi. AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu dismissed claims by BJP minister Kapil Mishra of 1,200 overnight stubble burning incidents as baseless, asserting that the state achieved nearly 90% control over such incidents this year.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora further claimed that stubble burning has decreased by nearly 95% since 2020, dropping from 83,002 incidents to 4,657 this season. Arora attributed this decline to the Bhagwant Mann government's deployment of over 1.62 lakh crop residue management machines and the creation of biomass and biogas plants. He demanded an apology from the BJP, questioning how such low levels of smoke could cause Delhi's air pollution.

However, satellite data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute contradicts these claims, recording 5,002 farm fires in Punjab between September 15 and November 10, an increase from 4,195 during the same period last year. While experts suggest official counts may be underreported due to farmers timing burns to avoid detection, data shows stubble burning's contribution to Delhi's PM2.5 levels remained low, peaking at 16.3% on November 4.