Delhi pollution news: Delhi’s air quality dipped to ‘severe’ on Wednesday morning as many parts of the national capital were engulfed in toxic air due to cold winds on Tuesday evening. Parts of Delhi such as Ashok Vihar (405), Jahangirpuri (428), Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium (404) and Dwarka Sector 8 (403) witnessed severe air quality.
Regions outside Delhi also reported ‘very unhealthy’ air quality on Wednesday morning. The air quality index (AQI) teetered towards unhealthy in places such as Faridabad (329), Ghaziabad (321), Greater Noida (318), and Noida (331) respectively.
An AQI from 0-100 is considered good, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and 400-500 or above is considered severe. Meanwhile, not much relief is likely as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted shallow fog in Delhi on November 22, 24 and 25 and moderate fog on November 23.
Fog is also likely to occur across parts of the national capital on November 26 and 27. The minimum and maximum temperatures across Delhi are expected to hover around 11 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius respectively. The minimum temperature in Noida is likely to be 12 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature can be around 27 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, the Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab and Delhi governments on the issue of pollution. The top court urged the state governments to find alternative to end the practice of stubble burning.
The top court also suggested that farmers who engage in stubble burning should be barred from receiving government subsidies and benefits like minimum support price (MSP) for paddy. “In our belief committee led by cabinet secretary must look into the aspect of discouraging cultivation of rice keeping in mind the wells running dry. Persons concerned must put their head together on this aspect,” the court said.
Following the top court’s order, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said that the Punjab government has not paid much attention to the issue and haven’t adopted the measures that they should have to prevent the issue. Khattar added that the Haryana government is providing farmers with all the help to prevent stubble burning.
Replying to Khattar’s statement, Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema told news agency ANI: “This time, the number of stubble burning cases have increased in Haryana the most and in Punjab, there was a 70 per cent reduction (in stubble burning)… Haryana CM Khattar should stop doing politics on this and should stand with the farmers. Why is the Centre not helping farmers?”
Source: Business Today
