Air 'severe', Rai raises farm fire alarm again with Centre
New Delhi: A thick layer of smog partially blotted out the sun on Chhath Puja and smudged landmarks from view as the air quality in Delhi-NCR slipped back into the severe zone with unfavourable meteorological conditions aiding accumulation of pollutants.
Green think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has called the ongoing smog episode a public health emergency.
Delhi recorded the 24-hourly air quality index (AQI) at 411. Most of the 39 air quality monitoring stations in the national capital recorded air pollution levels in the severe category. Faridabad (412), Ghaziabad (461), Greater Noida (417) and Noida (434) also recorded severe air quality at 4 pm on Thursday.
An official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said shallow fog and low temperatures in the morning — Delhi recorded the season's lowest temperature of 12.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday — trapped pollutants close to the ground and calm winds led to stagnant conditions.
Visibility levels at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Safdarjung Airport dropped to 600-800 metres, he added. The CSE said the current severe smog episode in Delhi-NCR is expected to last for another day.
According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality forecast agency SAFAR, 3,914 farm fires accounted for 26 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on Thursday. Stubble burning has accounted for at least 25 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution for eight days on the trot, starting November 4.
Significantly, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai once again wrote to the Centre, seeking an emergency meeting with all NCR states on controlling stubble burning. There has been no response so far to Rai's first letter dated November 7 in this regard.
Trans-boundary movement of pollutants from stubble burning has been huge since the start of November, the Delhi minister rued in the latest letter, adding that this necessitated an emergency meeting to resolve this.
Anti-garbage burning drive
Meanwhile, Gopal Rai on Thursday kicked off a month-long campaign against open burning of waste and biomass with an inspection of the Ghazipur landfill, and directed EDMC officials to prepare a concrete fire control plan.
The government will review the reasons behind the "slow rate" of biomining of legacy waste at the Ghazipur landfill, the minister said, adding that only five per cent of it has been processed in two and a half years.
"It seems difficult to accomplish the task at this rate. They are saying it will take 13 years. The progress is very poor," Rai said. The minister said 550 patrol teams have been formed, of which 246 will be deployed at night. The second phase of the anti-dust campaign will be run from November 12 to December 12, he said.
