Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday asked Union Environment and Forests Minister Bhupender Yadav to call a meeting of the national capital’s neighbouring states over the stubble-burning issue so that necessary steps to secure the life of citizens could be taken.
“City of Delhi had entered the ‘severe category zone’ with AQI reaching 404 on November 9. As per meteorological prediction. AQI is likely to remain in the ‘very poor category’ due to shallow mixing layer height and low wind speed,” he said in a letter to Yadav.
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“This is an accumulation of pollutants in the air shed. The situation has got worse with stubble burning recorded in the neighbouring NCR states since last week. The satellite remote sensing data by CREAMS laboratory of IARI has recorded further increase in the total active fire count in NCR as 5,395 on November 9,” Rai wrote.
“Trans-boundary movement of pollutants from stubble burning has been huge since the start of November.”
“Intervention of the Central government is urgently required at this stage for stopping the uncontrolled and unbated stubble burning in the neighbouring states, which is heavily impacting the ambient air quality of the city of Delhi,” he added.
As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 5.30. p.m. stood at 390.
Thursday’s stubble burning share stood at 26 per cent with 3,914 fire counts till 3 p. m.
The Air Quality Early Warning System forecast for Delhi has indicated the national capital’s AQI could improve gradually after remaining in the “very poor” category from November 10 to 12.
To curb the air pollution caused due to the construction and demolition activity and open burning, the Delhi government will launch an anti-open burning and second phase of the anti-dust campaign soon.
