DELHI POLLUTION CRISIS: BJP Blames AAP-Ruled Punjab's Stubble Burning After Toxic Diwali Smog

Thank you very much for tuning in. You're watching The Urban Debate. Now, Delhi NCR is choking on its worst early winter air in three years, even though stubble burning has seen a massive decline that has happened in Punjab. The Punjab farm fire numbers, if we get you on your screens right now, and on the peak of Diwali, when it comes to over 1,100 incidents that were reported in one single day, that was on the 8th of November. The cases have now dropped to 198 on the 9th of November, fluctuated to around 345 and then went up to 515 over the next two days. And yesterday it crashed to just 54 on the 12th of November, bringing the season's total that has been now as far as the data compiled from the last two months of the 15th of September till about 12th of November around 5,571 cases. Now, this is not just the story of Punjab alone. Across India, a total of 10,805 farm fires have been recorded between the 15th of September and the 12th of November. Punjab amounting to 5,571, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 2,506. Rajasthan, 1,400 cases. Uttar Pradesh reporting around 886. Haryana. Recording around 218, Uttarakhand recording 216, Delhi meanwhile recording just two cases. So with the farm fires dipping, why is there no relief? Because latest research from the Centre of Science and Environment punches the usual blame game, revealing that stubble burning now accounts for under 9% of Delhi's pollution load. Instead, local vehicular emissions, industrial smoke, road dust, weak winds, winter inversions are now trapping the pollutants right over the capital. Now, even as the toxic smog that forces schools into hybrid mode, The political slugfest between the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress rages on, spilling into a bitter row over dead fish that seems to have been found in the Yamuna ahead of Chhath Puja. Now, while the BJP alleges Aam Aadmi Party's conspiracy to spoil the festive atmosphere and has filed FIR, Aam Aadmi Party has hit back, calling it as politics of lies and daring the government to release evidence. Meanwhile, on ground, Delhiites are still gasping for breath. Let's get you this ground report that has now come across from Akshar Tham. Delhiites today have woken up to extremely, in fact, hazardous air quality. The air quality index has crossed the 400 mark. On an average, Delhiites are breathing in AQ at the level of 403 as of this morning. It is in the severe category, something which can make even healthy people on prolonged exposure very, very sick and cause illnesses for those already with compromised, in fact, lung health as well. I'm currently reporting from the Akshardham area. Nearby there is an AQI station as well and the reading from where I am reporting from is at 451. This is in the severe plus category. IMD has also in fact given a fog alert as well. Moderate to shallow fog in parts of Delhi is also expected today. We have an independent AQI monitor as well and as far as that is concerned, You can see how the PM2.5 levels, of course, reaching the 600 mark. Now, the government, of course, says that the app here, which is formulated by the National AQI testing and recording methodology, is the only app that can... convey a reliable position of the AQI. Artificial rain is something that the Delhi government and IIT Kanpur is actively considering. So can that be a possibility in the next couple of days if there is any cloud action? It remains to be seen. And this is also the stage wherein the government starts advising people not to step out for any non-essential activity. We can fall down this much, just for one reason. The government of 10 years of incompetence is being threatened now. Delhi's 10 years have been the clearest days. Delhi's month of October is the clearest. Delhi's average AQI is the lowest in the last 10 years. And after Deepavali, there are so many clear and open days. This is unbearable. But there are limits in politics. A person will fall so low. We will not even worry about the day of the mothers and sisters of the pregnant sisters. Meanwhile, when we get you these ground reports and the political bickering, because every year around Chhatpooja, the conversation in Delhi turns to one lifeline, and that is Yamuna. And right now, the political battle over who is actually cleaning the river is hotter than ever. You have the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party, which have been trading sharp charges over toxic foam, the quality of water, the recent viral videos coming in from Sonia Vihar and Burari. And both sides are now saying that each other is playing politics while also claiming that they are the ones who are actually doing the heavy lifting when it comes to cleaning the river. So let's step back from the noise and look at the actual track record on ground. First, let's take a look as far as Aam Aadmi Party when it was in power in Delhi for a decade. Their strategy that centered around expanding Delhi's sewage treatment capacity and trapping waste inside major drains before it even hit the river. They rolled out multi-point action plans connected unauthorized colonies to sewer lines and used anti-foaming agents to tackle the froth. The criticism? They missed their own 2025 deadline to make the river clean enough for a dip. Let's take a look as far as BJP's record now, because both the centre's Namami Gange mission and now in the Delhi government, the double engine ki sarkar, their push that focuses on big ticket infrastructure, nearly 9000 crore rupees in the new and upgraded sewage plants, aggressive desilting, biogas plants for dairy waste, tapping major drains with a new target that has been set of May 2029. Here is the bottom line for Delhiites. Thousands of crores that have been spent over the years, dozens of plans that have been launched, yet the river's health remains a work in progress. Let's get you this round report from Yamuna Ghat. There have been reports of fish dying at Yamuna River and currently Times Now is doing the ground reality check where we'll show you what's actually happening. We are currently reporting from Sonia Vihar's Yamuna Ghat and these are the visuals that we can show you from here. The image that we are showing you here is that fishes are lying over here. And are dead. We are joined with one of the fishermen who generally lives here for his... Bread and butter. Yesterday, according to the tonnage, the fish are dead. The water from the dam has been released. There are fish all over the ghat. You can see fish all over the ghat. You can see dead fish everywhere. Most of the fish are dead on that side. You earn your living here. Is this your source of income? In the first two years, It's okay if it comes once, but this year it has come three times, this dirty water, the chemical water. It has come three times in one year. In tons, fish have been found dead here and this was happened yesterday when chemical water was thrown into the river and that led to fish dying and this is what we are reporting from here although we do not know, neither does he. Who's actually throwing this chemical water, but he's saying, he's alleging that this is the third time in this year where the water, we can also show you the quality of water as he's saying that it's pitch dark. It's not feasible for them to also be in this water. It is not healthy. It is not good for consumption. Saurabh Bhardwaj is saying that the fish that is dead is harming it. Some people cry a lot. And when they cry and look at it, they think that something good is happening to the country. So these are the people who wear a black mask at home. . . . Parvesh Verma is saying that Saurabh Bhardwaj has put dead fish in it. So we must have bought dead fish from somewhere. To buy thousands of dead fish, I will have to go to the sea to bring them. Or thousands of fish will come from a very big market in Delhi. Those fish will be put in the river somewhere. There are CCTV cameras all over Delhi. Take them out and show where Saurabh Bhardwaj put the dead fish. Only and only the politics of lie has entered Verma. See, as soon as the ferry started moving in Yamuna, immediately after a day, The people of our department told us that some people are putting dead fish in Yamuna. The big festival of Chhath Parv is going to come. They want to ruin its atmosphere. Arvind Kejriwal has come on his own policy. I told our department to register an FIR on him. And today, the department is making an FIR on him to find out who the people are and what connection they have with the Aam Aadmi Party. All the milk of the milk, the water of the water will be cleared. If you lie in the name of cleaning the Yamuna, if you lie, if you lie, So we don't accept that. What did they do last time? They dug a separate pit, put water in it and said that Yamuna has been cleaned. So it doesn't work by lying like this. If you want to clean Yamuna, then what has been done in Yamuna cleaning? Tell me, you put chemicals in it and remove the foam for a few days and then say that Yamuna has been cleaned. It won't work like this. We should see what the actual situation is. So let's open this up and invite our guests here on the Urban Debate. Thank you very much for joining in, all of you. Quick introduction, Jasmine Sandavalia from the BJP is joining us. We also have Rajakshmi Joshiji as political analyst, Dr. Nishant Anand from the Congress Party. We have Vaibhav Srivastav from the Aam Aadmi Party and Anand Arya as an environmentalist joining us here on the broadcast. Thank you very much, all of you. Let's get a better understanding. If I begin with an environmentalist point of view, Mr. Arya. Now, when we speak of the current situation, Yamuna, we have never seen a clean Yamuna. All that comes to mind is the toxic foam, all that comes to mind is the dirty river water, all that comes to mind is especially during festivities, you know if I cross as far as even the areas which is near to DND or even Kalindi Kunj, you will have people dropping some packets and plastics from above the bridge into the Yamuna. So that hasn't stopped and that of course is also leading when it comes to the Yamuna Yamuna river water, because it is unfit for consumption. It is bad even when it comes to the farmers there in the area and of course when it comes to the fishing community, well it has now turned into a bane for them. So Mr. Arya, what are we now looking at as far as cleaning of Yamuna is concerned? Well, cleaning of the Yamuna, I think when I was a teenager, I mean my first dip to learn I learned swimming was in the Yamuna itself at I was at Majnu ka Tila, where I was just thrown into it and learned swimming. I mean, it was as clean as that. But last 50 years, 40 years, 30 years, it had been worsening and worsening and worsening. I remember the first time, the first case that came up was Commander Sharma in 1970 somewhere. I think on which the Supreme Court had passed an order that at least 10 cusecs of water must flow all the time. Now, actually, Yamuna can be cleaned. There is a precedent somewhere, I think, of the model that we are going to follow, which is supposed to have been followed in the 24 kilometers of Yamuna from Wazirabad to Okhla. Jagatpur. Go to Jagatpur. It's all clean. It's all clean because it's the clean end till Wazirabad. That same water is used for cleaning, you know, what we get as a clippering or something like that. I would use that they act like Tom and Jerry. So beyond that, I won't say anything on that. You are free to take on all the political party representatives here, sir, because we have them here on the panel. I'm going to just quickly, Mr. Arya, take opening statements from all of them. Because what do you have to say? And of course, the air quality today, ma'am, have you seen outside? There is no visibility. You know, it is a very, very unfortunate thing. And I would not just speak as a BJP spokesperson, but as an Indian citizen also, that all political parties, including BJP, and be accountable and be responsible instead of pointing fingers at each other. This sounds very apolitical coming from a spokesperson. I'm speaking here not only as a spokesperson, but as a responsibility. And like you very nicely said, that you have seen people dropping... Yamuna saaf ho jaani chahiye thi. Yamuna ji and that is how we have and the people of Delhi have given the mandate. How they talk about that Manoj Tiwari is jumping into the Yamuna ji and saying that the government has cleaned the overalls. I would also like to bring it which I think you don't have speculating like you have dip or you know scoop some water in the palm and drink it. Can they even consume it? challenge because we all know what the situation is. Yes, it is a different fact that it is not as if the Yamunaji is polluted all along and you know happen but now today you cannot and you should not challenge somebody to do that. Dr. Anand, it is literally now turned into the situation The patient's crores have been washed away in the water. So much money that has been pumped into the cleaning. I agree with you all. Yes. Yes. So I will start by saying that BJP manifesto, page number 17, in the last para of... I live in Punjab. I'm a farmer myself. I live in Kapurthala. I farm. AAP is ruling. And I, if you remember, I began by saying that as a spokesperson, not as a spokesperson, but as a concerned Indian citizen, I'm saying that our rivers are... There is a serious problem with our air quality. I have basic ethics and morality towards the nation. We owe this to our country. Let's just speak about Delhi alone. I mean, as far as the air quality in most of the Indian cities. We cannot run away. The whole weather conditions in India are alarming. We need to take some drastic steps towards it. And there is no... I very much look forward to it. But now no more. The situation has drastically changed, unfortunately for the worse. Please tell me. In Punjab, there is such... Dr. Anand, now Jasminji is coming to you. 850 crores has not been used because they don't know what needs to be done. If you remember... ...percent of reduction in farm fires from 78,900 something. From something to something, Look at the data in front of you. It's coming in front of you, isn't it? I've shown you the data of CPCB. And I've shown you the data of Firefight. But putting out that 1100 data has come and you've... And here... It's not about your channel, I'm saying that there are subsequent, there are certain people who are always, they have a narrow, obviously the AQI should be.