‘Dust storm from West Asia main trigger for Delhi smog’

NEW DELHI: As Delhi and its neighb ours spa rover stubble burning, a Centre- run monitoring agency has identified a West Asian dust storm as the chief trigger behind the recent smog in the region.

On November 8, the contribution of the dust storm was 40%, eclipsing the role of emissions from stubble burning, which stood at 25%, the Pu ne-based System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said.

That was the day pollution levels peaked with PM 2.5 concentration reaching 640 micro grams per cubic metre (ug/m3), according to the SA FAR scientific assessment report of the week-long pollution crisis accessed by PTI.

“Rest was made up of emissions from local sources such

vehicular combustion. If external sources did not have any role, levels of PM 2.5 during this period could have been around 200 μg/ m3,” the report stated.

“We have been already been saying that stubble burning was not only the reason behind smog. In Punjab, cases of straw burning declined by 40%. Against 70,000 straw burning cases last year, only 40,000 cases have been reported so far,” said Charanjeet Singh,a scientist with the Punjab Pollution Control Board.

“Dust storm is also a reason behind smog in Delhi and its neighbouring areas. But we cannot ignore the contribution of stubble burning as smoke is also adding to the problem ,” S Na rayan an, member secretary, Haryan a Pollution Control Board, told HT.