POLLUTION

Stubble Burning Cases Across Punjab Surge to 1,850, Bring Delhi’s Air Quality Down to Very Poor, Even Severe Levels

A farmer stands in a field as smoke rises from the burning of paddy stubble at Agaul, on the outskirts of Patiala, Punjab. ( Piyal Bhattacharjee/TOI, BCCL, Delhi) — A farmer stands in a field as smoke rises from the burning of paddy stubble at Agaul, on the outskirts of Patiala, Punjab.
( Piyal Bhattacharjee/TOI, BCCL, Delhi)

Wednesday, November 2: While politicians and higher officials are busy playing the blame game, it is Delhi that continues to bear the brunt of the abysmal air quality. On Tuesday, the national capital's Air Quality Index (AQI) slipped to the 'severe' category for the second time since the Diwali week. And while one might argue that there has been at least a slight improvement in the AQI today, the 'recovery' is only relative.

This annual degradation in the national capital region's air quality can be attributed to a variety of reasons such as vehicular and industrial pollution, meteorological factors like wind speeds, and agricultural activities in neighbouring states.

At present, most fingers point at the latter, with the stubble burning recorded in Punjab being one of the major factors behind the recent deterioration of Delhi's AQI.

Once the crops have been harvested after the Kharif season, a ‘stubble’ of the crops still remains on the fields. And since this takes over a month to decompose on its own, farmers who need to sow the next crop as soon as possible are driven to burn the stubble to speed up the process. However, the winds end up transporting this stubble smoke to Delhi-NCR, resulting in further degradation of the capital’s AQI.

According to TOI, around 1,850 cases of stubble burning have been recorded in Punjab as of Tuesday, as farm fires continued unabated.

In Ludhiana district, the government has so far imposed Rs 2.47 lakh in fines on farmers who burnt crop residue. Moreover, 79 red entries have been made in revenue records. Once a red entry is made in revenue records, a farmer may not be able to mortgage or sell the land.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government continues grappling to salvage the rapidly worsening situation. In line with the imposition of GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) stage 3, authorities have halted all construction work and demolition activities till further orders.

However, the situation remains grim. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) indicated that Delhi's overall AQI stood at 345 as of 11 AM today, putting it in the 'very poor' category. Its PM2.5 levels stood at 178 and PM10 at 322.

Furthermore, several areas in Delhi-NCR, including Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, and Dwarka Sector-8, have registered AQIs nearing a ‘severe’ 400 today.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 is 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor' and 401 to 500 'severe'.

Given the current situation in Delhi, its residents might experience breathing difficulties and respiratory illnesses. The SAFAR advisory suggests sensitive groups must avoid overexertion and outdoor physical activities.

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