Air turns 'very poor' as CM blames farm fires; Centre says share in pollution 2%

Update: 2021-10-17 19:15 GMT

New Delhi: As Delhi's air quality plunged into the "very poor" category on Sunday morning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed increasing stubble burning in neighbouring states for the corresponding increase in pollution levels here, declaring that the governments there were "doing nothing" to help farmers to stop it.

He appealed to the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to understand their responsibilities towards reducing stubble burning and controlling pollution.

"Farmers are compelled to burn stubble as their governments are doing nothing for them (towards stopping stubble burning)," Kejriwal said while laying the foundation stone of a Delhi government hospital.

Kejriwal said the Delhi government is doing every bit from anti-dust campaign to spraying of bio-decomposer liquid in fields to controlling inbound pollution, but the neighbouring states were yet to act. At 2 pm on Sunday, the AQI in Delhi was 339, which is in the "very poor" category.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences' forecast body SAFAR said the city's Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded as 350, which falls in the 'very poor' category with PM2.5 as the lead pollutant.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai also reiterated similar concerns and said that air quality in the city was deteriorating because of increasing incidents of stubble burning in neighbouring states. According to NASA pictures, the number of stubble burning incidents that day was low but within the last three days, incidents of stubble burning have increased with great speed in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, he said.

"We need a responsible approach from (neighbouring) states in reducing the number of stubble burning. They should make arrangements to spray bio-decomposer in their states so that pollution can be controlled," Rai said.

However, according to SAFAR, stubble burning's contribution to Delhi's pollution had dropped from a whopping 14 per cent to just 2 per cent on Sunday.

And the IARI, said Punjab recorded 14 farm fires with no such incidents reported from Haryana and Rajasthan on Sunday. UP recorded 39 instances.

The Environment Minister added that his government was tackling internal sources of pollution, announcing that the Red Light on Gaadi Off campaign will be launched today to check vehicular pollution at key intersections.

"As a long term solution, we are promoting electric

vehicle policy and working of tree plantation issues," Rai said, adding, "We will not hesitate in taking even the toughest step if required."

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