Stubble burning major contributor in Delhi's deteriorating air quality; BJP blames AAP

Most of the areas in Delhi-NCR are under the ‘severe’ category with total Air Quality Index (AQI) climbing to 472

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New Delhi: With the national capital's air quality remaining in the 'severe' category for the second day in a row, SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) reported on Friday that stubble-burning contributed 34% of Delhi's PM 2.5 pollution. On Friday morning, Delhi's air quality remained in the 'severe' category, with the city's total Air Quality Index (AQI) climbing to 472. Noida’s average AQI is reported around 562 today. Ghaziabad’s AQI reaches 407 and Delhi’s Dheerpur area records AQI of 512. Most of the areas in Delhi-NCR are under the ‘severe’ category. At the same time, Gurugram's AQI stood at 539 and remained in the 'severe' category.

BJP accuses AAP of severe AQI

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called the poor air conditions of Delhi a complete failure of the Kejriwal and Mann led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. BJP spokesperson Shahzad Poonawalla said that the Punjab AAP government has completely failed to tackle the situation of stubble burning. He attacked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the diminishing air quality in the national capital region and said that "Delhi has become a gas chamber".

"This kind of a situation arises every year in Punjab, due to the lack of concrete policy by the Delhi government regarding the large-scale burning of stubble in the fields and other causes of pollution," Poonawala said.

"On one hand, the continuously falling level of pollution in Delhi remains a problem for the common man, on the other hand, politics has also intensified regarding this air pollution," he added.

Diwali crackers or stubble-burning, asks BJP

Attacking the Arvind Kejriwal government of Delhi, Poonawalla said, "Delhi has become a gas chamber. A health emergency has started in Delhi because, in many areas, the AQI level is going beyond 700-800 at 7 am. This is happening because, in Punjab, where the AAP is in power, the incidents of stubble burning are increasing continuously."

"So far 21,000 incidents have occurred. There have been 3,600 incidents of stubble burning in the last 24 hours. This means that the Aam Aadmi Party of Punjab has completely failed," Poonawalla added.

Accusing Kejriwal of shifting blame on Diwali crackers and stubble burning, Poonawalla asked, "what happened to the proposal of buying stubble from farmers? What happened to the bio-decomposer? Delhi`s pollution is not just because of stubble. Sometimes the Aam Aadmi Party blames the Diwali crackers, and sometimes the Delhi government blames the stubble."

Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.

People in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) woke on Friday with complaints of choking and "eye burning" from smog and air pollution, which left them gasping for breath. 

Delhi LG issues notice to Bhagwant Mann

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena has issued a notice to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the increasing instances of stubble-burning. In an official letter, he urged Punjab CM to look over the stubble-burning instances, which has been increased by 19% in the period between October 24 to November 2 as compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

"I wish to draw your attention toward the pain and suffering that the people of Delhi are experiencing for no fault of theirs, and request you to undertake the urgent and substantive measures to control Parali burning in Punjab, that has converted the National Capital once again into a gas chamber," LG Saxena wrote in letter. 

Air Quality to remain poor till...

However, the forecast indicates that air quality in Delhi and surrounding areas will continue to deteriorate, with an expected improvement on November 5. "Air quality is likely to remain within `Severe` today and likely to improve tomorrow to `lower end of Severe` and from 5th onwards air quality is likely to improve further to `Very poor` due to upper-level wind reversal that prevents inflow of stubble-related pollutants. Higher surface wind speed on 5th Nov is likely to disperse pollutants," said a press release.

Amid the worsening conditions of air quality in Delhi-NCR, a high-level meeting has been scheduled at 12 PM today by Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai. Officers of the Environment Department and other related departments will be present in the high-level meeting today. Amid the worsening Air Quality in the city, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) implemented Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) with immediate effect on Thursday.