Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said staying in denial about the farm fires would not help Delhi. (File)
New Delhi:
Responding to the Union Environment Minister’s assertion that stubble burning contributes only 4% to air pollution in Delhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today But staying in denial wouldn’t help.
Delhi’s chief minister further asked why the air quality in Delhi and the national capital region had deteriorated only in the past two weeks, when farmers started to burn rice stubble in its neighboring states.
“The air (in the NCR) was clean before that. It’s the same story every year. There has been no massive increase in local sources of pollution in recent days to cause this spike, ”said Mr. Kejriwal, who also launched“ Red Light On, Gaadi Off ”campaign today.
Let’s assume that stubble burning causes enormous pollution every year in northern India during this period. And allows everyone together to find a solution sincerely. The blame game and politics have not helped anyone. People are suffering. I am extremely worried that pollution will wreak havoc coupled with corona wid
– Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 15, 2020
Aam Aadmi party MP Raghav Chadha – who accused the central government of making only piecemeal efforts to deal with the annual public health risk – cited the pollution control body to counter the minister’s accusation. Union Environment Officer Prakash Javadekar that 96% of Delhi’s pollution is due to “biomass burning, garbage dumps, unpaved roads, dust, construction and demolition, etc. “.
“According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s own estimates for 2019, stubble burning contributed 44% to air pollution in Delhi. The SAFAR of the Ministry of Earth Sciences said that at the peak of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana accounted for 44% of Delhi’s pollution, “Mr. Chadha says.
To check on local sources of pollution, Delhi’s chief minister and party leader Aam Aadmi – which enforces the “odd-even” system of road rationing during the winter months since 2016 – today called people not to leave the engines of their vehicles on when traffic stops.
“Let us all pledge to turn off our vehicles at red lights … In winter, polluted air settles near the ground. Every effort will help reduce pollution,” he said in the context of private vehicles congesting Delhi’s roads as a public means of transport function at half its capacity due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A layer of smoky haze has hung over the National Capital Region since Monday, with the air quality index dipping to 304 in the “very poor” category on Tuesday for the first time since February this year.
Air quality has declined despite state and central governments taking more stringent anti-air pollution measures, including a ban on power generators, punishing violators on construction sites.
