New Delhi: The spree of "very poor" air days continued in the Capital on Thursday, as the CPCB recorded an AQI of 347, slightly lower than that the day before, with monitoring agencies predicting improvement from Sunday due to strong surface winds.
Neighbouring Faridabad (349), Ghaziabad (360), Greater Noida (308), Gurugram (323) and Noida (336) also recorded their air quality in the "very poor" category. But even as SAFAR reported a decrease in farm fires, which constituted just 2 per cent of the city's pollution on Thursday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai called on his counterpart in the Centre to call a joint meeting to tackle external sources of pollution.
Rai spoke at a presser on Thursday, during which he said that a recent study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment with data compiled by the Indian Institute of Tropical Management (IIT) had shown that local sources only contributed to 31 per cent of Delhi's pollution — claiming that the other 69 per cent came from external sources.
The same study cited by the Delhi government had also found that of the local sources of pollution, vehicular emissions comprised over 50 per cent. The study was conducted by the Central government-run agency with data from October 24 to November 8. Rai said that a similar study by TERI in 2016 had shown that 64 per cent pollution is due to external sources and 36 per cent pollution is due internal sources of Delhi.
The Environment Minister added that the Delhi government is taking a number of steps from anti-dust campaigns to the "Red Light on, Gaadi Off" campaign to control the city's internal pollution. But it requires a joint effort from all NCR states such as Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the minister said. According to the CSE study cited earlier, NCR districts contribute to over 50 per cent of the pollution in the Capital.
"People of Delhi can't reduce the 70 per cent of the external sources of pollution. That's why I am requesting again the Union environment minister to call a joint meeting of environment minister from NCR states and make a joint action plan. Responsibilities of each state should be fixed to implement that plan and reduce pollution," Rai said.