As the winter is approaching, the national capital seems to be yet again facing the pollution problem mainly caused by the stubble burning. It is not that the adjoining states have not acted upon this problem. But one state government is apparently lagging behind in curbing this.
With the air pollution in Delhi starting to deteriorate again, blame game over the source of the pollution has already started with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal refuting a report of both the EPCA – Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority – and Government of India’s SAFAR which states that local sources and not stubble burning contribute towards pollution in Delhi.
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, a Supreme Court mandated body which is tasked with taking measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region, in a report, said that while external biomass burning commonly called as stubble burning cannot be ignored, it contributes only 10% to Delhi’s pollution whereas 90% of the Delhi’s pollution is caused due to internal sources of pollution.
The report makes it quite clear that it is the local sources of pollution that need to be tackled on a priority basis.
SAFAR which is the Ministry of Earth Science’s air quality and weather forecast service, has said that the share of biomass burning in PM 2.5 concentration in Delhi has remained less than 10 percent so far.
Media reports have quoted the SAFAR saying,
“Although stubble burning incidents in Haryana, Punjab and nearby border regions are moderate, there’s going to be a significant change in circulation pattern and the direction at transport height is going to be southeasterly, which means the impact of biomass burning is going to be negligible.”
