The Delhi government has requested for an emergency meeting with the Environment Ministers of neighbouring States and has requested the Centre to implement solutions to curb stubble-burning pollution. Delhi Environment minister Gopal Rai on Sunday wrote a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav seeking his attention to the despicable state of affairs at present.

“I appeal to him to call an emergency meeting of the Environment Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to discuss and implement immediate solutions for this problem.

Delhi can only get freedom from being choked when an immediate solution is implemented along with a long-term joint action plan in place to get rid of the problem,” wrote Rai

Stubble burning

People of Delhi are suffocating, choking on polluted air due to the negligence of Centre and neighbouring States. Around 21,623 stubble-burning incidents were recorded through NASA imagery in Punjab, Haryana and UP between November 1 and November 6.

In addition to this, 5,728 stubble-burnings took place in Punjab, Haryana and UP on November 5,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi is expected to improve by November 7, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

It further added that AQI is still in the ‘Severe’ category because of the large influx of stubble-related pollutants which appears to be due to much higher effective fire count observed than that assumed in the SAFAR model for forecasting.

Strong winds coming from the north west direction at 925 mb are very favourable resulting in significant transport of stubble related pollutants to Delhi. This effect is offset by local dispersion of pollutants by moderate surface winds.

AQI is likely to improve by tonight to very poor category but continue to fluctuate between the lower end of Severe to upper end of very poor. The favourable wind speed and direction and significantly high fire counts since Saturday, the AQI recovery is extremely slow in spite of moderate wind speed.

The stubble fire related contribution simulated by the SAFAR model has risen to the highest level of 48 per cent of this season. AQI is forecasted to improve but stay in high end of very poor to severe category in next 2 days.

comment COMMENT NOW