After Amarinder Singh, Haryana CM hits out at Kejriwal over stubble burning

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 air pollution peaked to alarming levels.

Kejriwal had said that high level of pollution and smog in Delhi were not just due to local reasons and blamed crop burning for worsening of air quality.

He said he had written to the chief ministers of both states to put their heads together to find a solution, but had not been given an appointment by either.

"I am ready to meet you "anytime anywhere." There is no response from your office on meeting," countered Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar in his reply to Kejriwal, also asking, "There are 40,000 farmers in Delhi. What are you doing about them?"

"We have taken all possible steps in Haryana. We have also requested people burning stubble to not do so," Khattar said, alleging that Punjab is the bigger culprit. He said that while the neighbouring state had not used "a penny out of 98 crores allotted to check farm fires, Haryana used 39 crores out of 45 crores allotted" to it for the purpose.

Khattar further questioned Kejriwal over the steps taken against stubble burning by farmers in Delhi, and conveyed the Union Agriculture Minister's information that Haryana has allocated Rs 39 Crore towards crop residue management, out of Rs 45.

Hitting back at Arvind Kejriwal for pointing fingers at the neighbouring states for pollution in the national capital, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that his Delhi counterpart does not understand the problem.

"Kejriwal is a peculiar person who has views on everything without understanding the situation. There is 20 million ton of paddy straw, where do I ask farmers to store? So .Kejriwal doesn't understand this problem," said Amarinder Singh.

OneIndia New