Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday asked the Central Government to convene an emergency meeting of all Environment Ministers of States neighbouring the Capital to discuss the issue of pollution arising from stubble burning and take urgent steps to secure the life of citizens.
Mr. Rai said 21,623 stubble burning incidents have been recorded through NASA imagery in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh between November 1 and 6, which mixed with pollution arising due to bursting of firecrackers has made the air quality in Delhi lethal.
He said, “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, with the Centre and neighbouring States showing no concern for human lives.” He said the State Government has started spraying the bio-decomposer solution to stop stubble burning in Delhi and taken steps to curb air pollution generated in the city, but little can be achieved in the long run without the neighbouring States taking steps to stop stubble burning.
Delhi’s average score on the Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the ‘severe’ category for the third consecutive day, with a score of 428 on Sunday. Mr. Rai said, “For the last three days, all the people of Delhi have been forced to breathe heavily polluted and suffocating air. Along with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee scientists, we researched the changes in pollution levels in Delhi since November 1. The data from November 1 to November 6 states the obvious — as and when stubble burning incidents increased, the pollution levels degraded.”
The Delhi Government said that according to satellite imagery, on November 1, there were 2,077 incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and U.P. and the AQI on same day was 281. On November 2, there were 3,291 incidents and the AQI was 303. However, on November 5, it said, the number of stubble burning incidents shot up to 5,728 and the AQI levels, including pollution from firecrackers, rose to 462. On November 6, the number of incidents were 4,369 and the AQI was 437.
Mr. Rai said that the impact of firecracker pollution is slowly receding but the same cannot be said about stubble burning.
‘Pleas going unheard’
In a letter to the Union Environment Minister, Mr. Rai said the Delhi Government had spoken about introducing the bio-decomposer solution as a means to stop stubble burning but all appeals had gone unheard due to which the city was turning into a gas chamber again.
