New Delhi — Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday attacked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann again, alleging that Mann had given false information about paddy harvesting and stubble burning. Addressing the media at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Shastri Park, Sirsa claimed that, according to the Punjab government's own data, 77 per cent of the stubble has already been burnt.

According to ANI, Sirsa said: "Yesterday, Bhagwant Mann held a press conference and falsely claimed that the harvesting of paddy has not yet begun; however, according to the data provided by his own government, 77 per cent of the stubble (parali) has already been burnt."

"What happened in just four days?"

Sirsa linked the charge to Delhi's air quality: "On October 30, the AQI in Delhi was 60; it rose to 117 on October 31, and by November 4, it reached 377. What happened in just four days to cause such severe pollution in the air that the people of Delhi had worked hard all year to keep it clean? When the air in Delhi was clean, the burning of stubble had not yet begun in Punjab." He said the number of reported fires was 92 on November 2, which reached 484 by November 3 — "the highest number recorded so far, double the figures seen over the last two years," in his words.

PPCB and officials targeted

Citing Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) data, Sirsa alleged that while 2,196 fire locations were identified and 494 FIRs registered, enforcement action targeted farmers rather than failing administrative officials. "The Punjab Pollution Control Board itself admits that no charge sheets are being filed against the officials; instead, cases are being registered only against the farmers," he said. He again questioned the appointment of party spokesperson Reena Gupta as PPCB Chairperson — an allegation he also made at his November 3 press conference, which Awaaz Punjab has already reported. Sirsa further claimed the Modi government provided Rs 5,000 crore to Punjab for 'Happy Seeders' and other agricultural equipment and that the state government misappropriated the funds, and he said the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) told the Deputy Commissioners of Bathinda, Fazilka, Jalandhar and Barnala on November 4 that they were concealing fire counts. All of these are Sirsa's claims.

Skeptical check — the claim does not fully match the data

(1) The "77 per cent of stubble burnt" claim is not directly established by the PPCB's own published figures: the board's November 5 report put paddy harvesting as completed on 85.10 per cent of the state's 32.87 lakh hectares — harvesting being complete and stubble being burnt are two different things, and one independent report (Fact.net.in) read Sirsa's 77 per cent figure as referring to harvesting completed. (2) His own fire numbers are internally inconsistent: he put November 3's single-day figure at 484, while the season's highest single-day count of 584 had already been reported for that day, and the cumulative season tally stood at 2,347 up to November 4, with 647 FIRs. (3) The Rs 5,000 crore claim also differs from the figure Sirsa himself gave on November 3, when he put Crop Residue Management releases to Punjab from 2018-19 to 2025-26 at Rs 2,056.50 crore.

No Punjab government or AAP response to this November 5 press conference had appeared in the wire reports at the time of writing; AAP rejected his November 3 allegations.

Why it matters

the stubble season is at its peak, Delhi's air is in the 'very poor' category, and ahead of the 2027 elections stubble has become the sharpest political weapon between Delhi and Punjab — one in which every side's numbers deserve scrutiny.

Note: All allegations and quotations are Sirsa's, as reported by ANI; the check figures are the PPCB's published data as reported by IANS/Mirror Now on November 5.