New Delhi: Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa Tuesday accused the AAP-led Punjab govt of fudging the stubble-burning data to understate the scale of farm fires in the state.
Sirsa said police registered 90 stubble-burning FIRs in the district on Oct 28 alone, while Punjab’s official count for the entire state that day stood at 96 farm fires. Between Oct 24 and 31, Tarn Taran recorded 271 FIRs, of which 189 were related to stubble burning , he said. He also referred to satellite monitoring data from ICAR-IARI, which, according to him, recorded 933 farm fires in Punjab between Oct 26 and Nov 1, an average of 133 a day. On Nov 1, Punjab reported 175 fires, against seven in Haryana and none in UP and Delhi, he said. The minister said the Centre had released Rs 2,056.50 crore to Punjab under a crop residue management scheme between 2018-19 and 2025-26. Of the Rs 592.57 crore earmarked for 2026-27, Rs 430.87 crore had already been released, he said, adding that the Union agriculture minister had sought utilisation certificates from the state.
“Either the FIRs are false or PPCB’s data is,” Sirsa said. Delhi needs clean air, not AAP’s revenge,” Sirsa said, urging residents to report pollution violations through the Green Delhi app. The party said on X: “A photograph showing officials extinguishing a stubble fire is being twisted to make it appear that Punjab Police was enabling it.
Sirsa also questioned the appointment of Reena Gupta, an AAP spokesperson in Delhi and a former adviser to the former Delhi environment minister, as chairperson of PPCB. “Punjab’s farmers need machines, not FIRs. Mr Sirsa, stop manufacturing lies about Punjab’s farmers and police and answer why your BJP govt has failed miserably in controlling pollution in Delhi despite no stubble burning in Punjab.”