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Journalism of Courage
Stubble burning after paddy harvesting in Punjab has long been blamed for rising pollution levels in the national capital around this time every year. On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that Punjab, Haryana and the Centre should urgently fix timelines to stop stubble burning, hours after Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar criticised him for “indulging in a blame game” over the issue. On Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had admitted that stubble burning was partially responsible, but added that industrial pollution, traffic congestion and excessive construction in Delhi was equally, if not more, to blame. ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA speaks to experts who explain why Punjab alone should not to be blamed for Delhi’s pollution:
On Sunday, the AQI of Punjab’s major cities were under ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ categories barring Patiala, which had hit ‘severe’ levels at 425. According to the Central Polluton Control Board, AQI levels in Punjab’s cities on Sunday were: 295 in Amritsar, 291 in Bathinda, 254 in Chandigarh, 317 in Jalandhar, 337 in Ludhiana, 360 in Khanna, 381 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 415 in Patiala and 275 in Rupnagar. Meanwhile, Delhi’s AQI was ‘severe’ at 494. On Friday it was 500.
Till November 2, a total 25,314 field fires have been recorded in Punjab including 2,856 on Sunday and only 4 fires on Saturday. This low number of detections was attributed to the dense cover of smog and clouds over the state. On Sunday, there were clouds over Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, said Dr Anil Sood of the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Ludhiana, which is recording stubble fires.
Punjab is located in the north-west side of the country, while Haryana is located south and south-east of Punjab, and north-west of the national capital, which is located east of Haryana. According to experts, at this time of the year, winds in Punjab generally blow from the north to the western side and as per the wind pattern, Haryana and Delhi are getting winds from Punjab, which is on the north-west side.
“Currently, winds in Punjab are blowing in a north-westerly direction. These are calm winds with a speed of less than 2 kmph, for the past several days. In several places, there is air locking too,” said Director, Indian Meteorological Department, Chandigarh office, Dr Surinder Paul, adding that due to such slow wind speeds, not much polluted air from Punjab was moving to Haryana and Delhi.
Experts in the MeT department also said that ‘surface winds’, which blow close to the Earth’s surface at 10-15 mts above surface level, are the most effective in carrying polluted air from one place to another. However, in Punjab, there is hardly any wind 1-2 km above surface level.
Punjab alone cannot be blamed for pollution, said Dr Paul, adding that it is coincidence that in North India, mainly Punjab and Haryana, paddy stubble is burned at the onset of the winter season, when there is a rise in air moisture and wind speeds are slow. Smoke from stubble burning, industrial/vehicular pollution further add to the process of ‘air locking’, which can be broken either through rain or fast winds. He further said that the absence of rain or fast winds had led to accumulation of pollutants in the air and decreased visibility level even below 1000 mts during morning and evening. For polluted air to move, turbulence and vertical motion in the air is needed, which is not happening at present. Punjab’s pollution is not travelling much, due to which AQI levels here are also ‘poor’, but not as severe as Delhi, said experts, adding that if stubble burning was only to blame, then due to air locking, Punjab should been have more polluted than Delhi due to the high number of stubble fires.
