A BJP leader on Tuesday blamed Pakistan and China for the rising levels of pollution witnessed in Delhi and the NCR over the past few days. "Ye jo zehreeli hawa aa rahi hai, zehreeli gas aayi hai ho sakta hai kisi bagal ke mulk ne chhodi ho jo humse ghabraya hua hai. (There is a possibility that this poisonous gas could have been released by any neighbouring country which is afraid of us.) I feel that Pakistan or China are afraid of us," Vineet Agarwal Sharda told ANI. "Whenever Pakistan fought a war with India, it was defeated. Since PM Modi and Amit Shah came, Pakistan has become frustrated," he said, reported the agency.
As the air quality in Delhi-NCR hovered between "severe" and "very poor" category, a review of pollution in northern India by the Centre on Tuesday found no let up in crop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana notwithstanding the clampdown by the Supreme Court to combat toxic air.
The pollution situation was also reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after the Supreme Court ordered an immediate and complete stop to stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh blamed for 46 per cent of the pollution in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).
According to satellite data collected by Punjab Remote-Sensing Centre, Sangrur and Bathinda were the worst-affected districts with the highest number of farm fire incidents of 1,007 and 945 on a single day, respectively.
Small growers were of the view that it was economically unviable for them to buy farm machinery like happy seeder, rotavators, super straw management system on combine harvesters etc.
-Inputs from PTI
