Kejri, Khattar in war of words
NEWDELHI: Politics over pollution continued unabated on Monday though no end appeared in sight to Delhi’s struggle with toxic air.
Days after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal got into a public spat with Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, he traded charges with his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar over the health emergency in NCR.
Khattar on Monday tweeted a copy of a letter he sent to Kejriwal on November 10, asking him to “rise above short-term electoral gains” and focus on action in the fight against pollution.
Stubble burning by farmers in Haryana and Punjab has led to a spike in pollution in Capital, and Kejriwal has been criticising the chief ministers of both states on social media for not doing enough to control it.
Khattar, in his letter, turned the tables on Kejriwal by asking him what he had done to check pollution in his city. “Your assertion that the (Punjab and Haryana) governments have failed to provide farmers economically viable solutions gives away your subconscious awareness of your government’s inaction in this regard. There are 40,000 farmers’ families who cultivate as many hectares in Delhi. What steps have been taken to keep them from burning stubble?” NEWDELHI: Retail inflation quickened to 3.58% in October, the fastest pace in seven months, spurred by rising food and fuel prices, virtually ruling out the possibility of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its 6 December monetary policy review.
Measured by the Consumer Price Index of CPI, retail inflation rose by 3.28% in September.
Combined food inflation in October was 1.9% in October, compared with 1.25% a month ago as vegetable prices increased by 7.47% from 3.92% in the previous month.
Prices of milk and egg increased modestly and fruit and fish prices came down marginally.
Data released by Central Statistics Office showed that inflation in urban India, at 3.81%, was higher than that in rural India, at 3.36%.