Ahead of the stubble burning season, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav Thursday chaired a meeting to assess the preparedness of Delhi-NCR states to manage the practice. The meeting was attended by Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) chairperson MM Kutty; Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar; environment ministers of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan; senior officials from Punjab; and Ministries of Agriculture, Power and Animal Husbandry. Reacting to the new air quality guidelines released by the WHO on Wednesday, Yadav said the MoEF has already commissioned a study to IIT-Kanpur to look at new standards for the country, which is to be submitted within a year. Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai appealed to the Centre and neighbouring states to convert public and commercial vehicles to CNG vehicles, implement the use of the Pusa bio-decomposer, and adopt an E-Vehicle Policy and Tree Transplantation Policy to reduce pollution. Yadav, said the ministry had issued eight advisories and over 42 directions for stubble burning so far. “There are measures that are being taken which are at various stages of implementation to reduce stubble burning. These include in-situ management of stubble by bio-decomposition in large scale by UP, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab; mandatory use of biomass with 50% paddy straw as supplement fuel in thermal power plants in NCR; setting up a task force to work out mode and means for utilising non-basmati stubble as fodder in Rajasthan and Gujarat; common manure development facility using rice straw; and private participation to encourage in-situ management of parali (bio-decomposition).”
