Unfair to blame ryots alone for rise in pollution in Del: Cong

It is unfair to blame farmers alone for the rise in pollution levels in Delhi, former Congress MLA and vice-chairman of All India Kisan Congress M Kodanda Reddy said on Tuesday.

Farmers are being blamed disproportionately for the hazardous ambient atmosphere in New Delhi. Stubble burning is not new in Punjab and Haryana.

However, Delhis ambient atmosphere has reached critical levels due to various reasons, with stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana also probably being a factor, he said in a release here.

No scientific studies have been done to correlate stubble burning to the increase in air pollution in Delhi in the past few years, he claimed.

Experts have repeatedly underlined that the health emergency in the region is owed only in part to the actions of farmers in Punjab and Haryana, and that it is, in fact, the product of a complex mix, including stubble burning, meteorological and atmospheric factors, road and construction dust and automobile emissions, Reddy said.

While air quality in Delhi deteriorated, many Punjab cities which are in the vicinity of stubble burning do not have equal or more deterioration in air quality, he said.

This reinforces the fact that Delhis ambient air pollution has other factors too, the Congress leader said.

The All India Kisan Congress is part of the AICC.