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The air quality in Delhi-NCR plummeted to ‘severe’ category yet again Tuesday as haze returned to the city. As per CPCB data, Delhi’s AQI stood at 425 Tuesday, with PM 2.5 being the prominent pollutant. Ghaziabad recorded the worst AQI at 453, followed by Noida at 440 and Greater Noida at 436. Factors such as low surface level windspeed, higher share of external pollutants and low temperatures contributed to conditions witnessed Tuesday.
As per SAFAR, stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana had 25% share in PM2.5 levels in Delhi Tuesday. Punjab has recorded the highest number of such cases at 48,683 so far. Pollution control bodies say the situation is being closely monitored and further action would be taken if air quality dips to ‘Severe+’ or ‘Emergency’ category.
Sunita Narain, member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, told The Indian Express, “We’ve been told the situation would improve in 48 hours… Construction work, use of diesel gensets and bursting of firecrakers have been banned. Odd-even will be in place tomorrow.” She added a CPCB-led taskforce will meet Wednesday to discuss the future plan.
Meanwhile, authorities in Punjab said stubble burning cases have reduced in the past three-four days as most of the crop residue has already been burned. Punjab Agriculture Secretary Kahan Singh Pannu said, “We will figure out the reasons for rising farm fires and try to fix the issue.”
Officials in the state agriculture department conceded that despite spending excessively on subsidies and awareness campaigns, “desired effects could not be yielded.” An official said, “We need to think why farmers are not taking up subsidies.” He said even an incentive of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy for straw management, directed by the apex court recently, has not attracted farmers.
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