With the winters approaching, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has written to Punjab and Haryana governments in view of stubble burning adding to the national capital’s worsening air quality index.
Mentioning the increase in crop residue burning incidents compared to last year, the LG wrote to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, urging him to galvanize all available resources and make farmers participate in defeating the menace caused by such incidents.
In his letter, Saxena also praised the neighboring state’s efforts in 2022 towards controlling stubble burning, which contributed significantly in mitigating the air quality issues in Delhi.
Meanwhile, in his letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he mentioned that incidents of stubble burning between September 15 and October 11 this year have witnessed a sharp increase, compared to the corresponding period last year.
As temperature plummets during winters, with decreased wind speed and more smoke in Delhi skies, the dispersion of particulate matter gets disrupted, causing rise in the air quality index (AQI) and making the air heavier.
Meanwhile, Delhi, which is currently reeling under ‘poor’ air, continues its efforts to fight local sources of air pollution like vehicular emissions and dust from construction.
Actions under the Graded Response Action Plan’s (GRAP) stage- I are already in place to keep a check on air quality.
On Friday, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, P K Mishra had chaired a high-level task force meeting on Delhi- NCR’s air pollution.