NEW DELHI, November 9 (Aalimi Nation) – Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra on Monday alleged that stubble fires in Punjab jumped about tenfold around Diwali and demanded that the Punjab government investigate and register FIRs, sharpening the BJP-AAP row over the capital's air pollution. No response from the Aam Aadmi Party or the Punjab government was available at the time of writing.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mishra said satellite data he had requested from the Government of India showed stubble-burning incidents in Punjab rising from about 125 on November 7 to roughly 1,200 on November 8, the day of Diwali. He said farmers had begun calling him and Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa the evening before to report the fires.
"This is a conspiracy against farmers, against Diwali, against Delhi, against Punjab," Mishra said. He asked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to order an inquiry and ensure that those who set the fires are booked. "They knew two days ago that the AQI would rise," he claimed, and called for the phone records of AAP members from Delhi who were in Punjab to be checked. He said that if the fires were set deliberately, those responsible should go to jail.
These are allegations by a minister of the BJP-led Delhi government and have not been independently verified.
According to the Commission for Air Quality Management, 4,459 stubble-burning incidents had been recorded in Punjab as of November 8. Physical inspections were carried out at 2,998 sites, and burning was confirmed at 1,310. The commission said FIRs had been registered in 884 cases under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, red entries had been made in the land records of 1,017 farms, and prosecution proceedings had begun against 18 nodal officers under Section 14 of the Commission's Act.
Several monitoring stations in the capital recorded an Air Quality Index above 400 early on Monday. At 10 am, Delhi Technological University showed the highest reading at 439, followed by Burari Crossing at 433, Vivek Vihar at 421, and North Campus of Delhi University and Sonia Vihar at 419 each.
The charge follows earlier claims by Sirsa, who said on November 3 that Punjab Police and officials were involved in setting crop residue on fire. He also questioned why only 271 FIRs had been filed despite more than 1,000 reported incidents. He accused former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former minister Manish Sisodia of political revenge after losing power in Delhi.
AAP has rejected such accusations. Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj has said the idea that farmers were being forced to burn stubble was shameful and that Punjab's farmers would never be part of such a conspiracy. He has also questioned the credibility of Delhi's official air quality figures, alleging that monitoring stations are placed in greener, low-traffic locations. The Delhi government has not accepted that claim.
Whether the Punjab government responds to the specific figures cited by Mishra, and whether the Commission for Air Quality Management publishes updated ground-verified counts for the Diwali period, will determine how far the allegation holds.
