Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday slammed Arvind Kejriwal over his plea for a meeting on stubble-burning and air pollution in the National Capital Region and asked the Delhi CM to refrain from indulging in 'petty street politics'.
Singh said he failed to understand why the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was trying to force his hand, knowing well that any such discussion would be "meaningless and futile".
Further, the Punjab CM alleged that Kejriwal was "trying to divert" public attention from his government's "failure" to check the problem of pollution in Delhi, as exposed in the National Green Tribunal's response to the "ill-conceived" odd-even scheme.
Singh said that Kejriwal's tendency to indulge in petty street politics was well-known, PTI reported.
The problems faced by the national capital and Punjab on this count were completely different with no meeting ground, Singh maintained.
He added that unlike Punjab, Delhi's problem was the result mainly of urban pollution caused by "mismanaged" transportation and "unplanned" industrial development.
His response came after Kejriwal sought a meeting with him in Chandigarh.
Kejriwal is scheduled to arrive in Chandigarh on Wednesday to meet his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar.
.@capt_amarinder Sir, I am coming to Chandigarh on Wed to meet Haryana CM. Would be grateful if u cud spare sometime to meet me. It is in collective interest
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 14, 2017
Air Pollution: Delhi-NCR out of 'emergency'
Meanwhile, the national capital on Tuesday saw improvement in the air quality with six out of 15 regions recording "very poor" levels rather than "severe" for the first time in the past week.
With wind speed almost doubling as compared to last week and chances of drizzle in NCR and neighbouring states, the air quality is set to improve further, falling under "very poor" or "poor" category, experts said, as per IANS.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) the average AQI of Delhi-NCR was 398 while the major pollutant PM2.5 or particles with diameter less than 2.5mm recorded 397 units at 6 pm - considered "very poor".
However, the average AQI of Delhi at 6 pm was 407 with PM2.5 at 406 units, considered "severe".
This is considered an "improvement" as for past seven days since November 7, Delhi had been breathing toxic air with average AQI ranging between 460 to 500, on a scale of 0 to 500 and PM2.5 reached a dangerous 945 units at some places including Ghaziabad - 37 times the safe limit.
(With Agency inputs)
