New Delhi: Days after Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh lashed out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday asked Kejriwal to “rise above short-term electoral gains” and focus on collective action to improve air quality of National Capital Region (NCR).

“Kejriwal accuses me of not meeting him to discuss the issue of air pollution. I am in Delhi on Monday and Tuesday. There is no response from Kejriwal’s office on any meeting to tackle the menace,” Khattar said in Delhi.

Accusing Kejriwal of “pollution politics,” Khattar said no single person, organisation or government can improve the quality of air.

“Such problems require collective action and everyone should do their bit. We have taken all possible steps in Haryana. We have also requested people burning stubble to not do so. Haryana government has spent over Rs390 million (Dh21.88 million) out of the sanctioned Rs450 million to tackle the issue of crop burning, whereas neighbour state Punjab has not used any fund of its allotted Rs980 million to check crop burning. Also what steps did Kejriwal take for stubble burning over 40,000 hectares of land in Delhi,” Haryana CM stated.

Last week, Kejriwal blamed Haryana and Punjab for the thick, toxic smog enveloping NCR. He said every year, during winter, farmers burn crop stubble in these two states to clear the fields for the next sowing season.

He said he had not received any response from the CMs of Punjab and Haryana on how to deal with air pollution in Delhi, which reached alarming levels.

“Setting politics aside, the central government, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi should come together to find a solution to stubble burning which causes high pollution level during this time every year. I have been seeking a meeting with both Haryana and Punjab chief ministers but I have not received any response,” Kejriwal had said last week.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s accusation that the Punjab and Haryana state governments were sitting over the issue, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh had described the Delhi CM as a “peculiar person”.

“Mr Kejriwal has his own viewpoints on everything without understanding the situation. If I have got 20 million tonnes of paddy straw, if I ask the farmer to store this, farms will be covered with the paddy straw. Mr Kejriwal doesn’t understand this problem. He is a peculiar person,” Singh had said.

Courtesy a mix of smoke and fog (smog) which has engulfed the national capital, Delhi has become a gas chamber. The toxic smog is choking people with the air quality index in the city falling under the hazardous category.

Last week, Delhi government closed down all schools in order to prevent students from being affected by poor air quality.