The Prime Minister’s Office reviewed the Air Quality situation in Delhi and NCR ahead of winter in a meeting chaired by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra yesterday evening. In the meeting of the high level task force, that was also attended by Environment Secretary CK Mishra, representatives from Punjab and Haryana states have been told to ensure the complete check of stubble burning with immediate effect for a period of three weeks. The Environment Ministry has been pushing Mulching as an alternative for stubble burning, especially in Punjab and Haryana, and has incentivised the distribution of shredders in states to achieve this. “The next 2-3 weeks are critical in terms of air quality and the good thing is that the PMO is monitoring the situation on a day to day basis and has made it a priority to being down emissions. Punjab and Haryana have in particular been told to stop stubble burning in this crucial period. Haryana has yesterday issued an advertisement in which farmers have been told that if they continue with stubble burning, they will not be eligible for many government schemes. While we know that burning will not cease entirely, the endeavour is to minimise it,”said CK Mishra. Mishra today further added that the Ministry has identified 13 districts across Punjab and Haryana which are “hotspots” of stubble burning. The identification has been done through satellite imaging. “Interesting we have found that these hotspots run along the Punjab-Haryana border. What we have told these two states to concentrate on these hotspots and ensure that no stubble burning takes place here. This alone will bring down emissions,”he said. The Secretary further said that 60 functional sweeping machines have been put into operation in the NCR. In the last two months two lakh tonnes of construction and demolition waste has been lifted. “This has been an issue. That C&D waste is not always lifted, this despite the fact that handling the waste is a part of the construction contract. So we are constantly monitoring this,”said the Secretary. The Ministry has further deployed 42 officials, along with 50 inspectors of the Delhi Government, to help reduce dust pollution. While most industries in the region have switched over to PNG, around 200 of the 1,000 operational industries have yet to make the switch, and have been instructed by the Ministry to shut operations for a period of five days during this “crucial period”. The Ministry has further successfully tested a chemical dust suppressant, a magnesium chloride solution, which they have now instructed municipal corporations to use during this period. “From experience we have seen that when we use water to suppress dust, this lasts for half an hour. This chemical lasts for six hours, which takes care of the peak hours and therefore brings down emissions,”said Mishra. Ministry officials pointed out that the coming month is critical with IMD forecasts showing calm winds and little moisture, which is likely to be detrimental to air quality. “There are western disturbances predicted for the next three days, which will help with air quality for some time. If that doesn’t happen, then emissions will go up,”said officials.
