Amid the decreasing air quality in Delhi-NCR for the past several days, Haryana Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Dalal on Saturday lashed out at Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab over stubble-burning incidents in the state. In his post on X, Dalal shared statistics of farm fires in Punjab and Haryana over the last three days.

"We have demanded water from (Arvind) Kejriwal ji and Bhagwant Mann ji, not smoke of paddy stubble,” Dalal wrote in Hindi.

Punjab witnessed 1,921, 1,668, and 1,551 farm fire incidents on November 1, 2, and 3, while stubble burning incidents in Haryana were 99, 48, and 28 on the three days, according to the data shared by the Haryana agriculture and farmers' welfare minister.

Reacting to Dalal's statement, the AAP accused him of "spreading lies". He also added that the Punjab government provided machinery to farmers in the state to check stubble-burning incidents.

"Twenty out of the 52 most polluted districts in the country are in Haryana and even then the Khattar government is playing politics and blaming Punjab," Punjab AAP unit spokesperson Neel Garg said.

"And what did the Khattar government do... only politics," he said attacking the BJP-led government in the state.

Paddy straw in Punjab and Haryana is considered to be one of the major reasons behind the alarming rise in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. 

As the window for wheat, a key Rabi crop, is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing the next crop.

Several regions of Haryana reported air quality falling into the severe category, while it was poor in parts of neighbouring Punjab. According to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre Data, as reported by news agency PTI, the state reported a total of 12,813 stubble-burning incidents till Friday.

(With input from agencies)