On Wednesday, the AAP accused the BJP government in Delhi of shutting down pollution monitoring stations and altering Air Quality Index data on Diwali night to mask the severity of the situation, while the ruling party blamed Punjab’s stubble burning for the national capital’s ‘very poor’ air quality. Monitoring stations indicated that air pollution in Delhi reached a four-year peak on Diwali, with particulate matter 2.5 hitting 675. Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP’s Delhi unit chief, claimed the BJP administration engaged in ‘data theft at a government level’ by reporting AQI readings around 350, despite actual levels surpassing 1,700.
He noted that multiple monitoring stations operated by the Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, India Meteorological Department, and IITM went offline simultaneously and resumed only after the winds cleared the air, which he described as dishonesty and manipulation against Delhi’s residents. In response, Delhi’s Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa stated, ‘Arvind Kejriwal has not only ruined Delhi but also Punjab. The air of Punjab is polluted now. Punjab once had very clean and fresh air, but its air has deteriorated.’ Bharadwaj challenged why Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was not implemented despite the AQI exceeding critical limits, accusing the government of contempt of court for allegedly altering pollution data.
Sirsa countered that farmers in Punjab are compelled to burn stubble due to the AAP government’s policies, highlighting that the highest incidents of stubble burning occurred in AAP-led Punjab on Diwali night.