The Delhi government has demanded an emergency meeting of the Environment Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Delhi along with that of the Centre to find immediate solutions to control air pollution through stubble burning.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the people of Delhi were suffocating due to polluted air owing to the negligence of the Centre and the neighbouring states.

As many as 21,623 stubble burning incidents were recorded through NASA imagery in Punjab, Haryana and UP between 1 November and 6 November 6.
A total of 5,728 stubble burning incidents took place in Punjab, Haryana and UP on 5 November.

Rai said the addition of firecracker pollution to this mix made the situation extremely lethal. He pointed out that the Kejriwal government’s constant appeals for a Joint Action Plan to get rid of stubble burning and air pollution have fallen on deaf ears.

He added, “The Kejriwal government used the bio-decomposer solution and the result was that there was no stubble burning incident in Delhi. We asked other states to do the same but they did not care.”

The minister said Delhi could not get rid of pollution unless immediate, as well as long-term steps, were taken in the neighbouring states to curb air pollution.

The minister added, “The available data clearly shows that pollution in Delhi gets devastating in the winter months as the number of stubble burning incidents rise during this period. This plus the pollution generated by firecrackers make the situation more lethal.

The impact of firecracker pollution is slowly receding but this cannot be said about stubble burning because of stubble burning in the neighbouring states.”

Gopal Rai continued, “I have written a letter to the Union Environment Minister 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.”

He asserted, “Delhi can save itself from being choked if an immediate solution is implemented along with a long-term joint action plan in place to get rid of the problem. The matter needs to be dealt with the seriousness it deserves.”