Air quality ‘very poor’ in 3 Haryana cities, ‘poor’ in 11
Karnal, Manesar and Gurugram have ‘very poor’ air quality, says pollution control board report
KARNAL : Air quality of at least three Haryana cities has entered the ‘very poor’ category and that of 11 others was ‘poor’ amid the crop-residue burning incidents in the region. An air quality bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board revealed the jump in the incidents of burning of the crop residue, polluting the air in the region.
The report says the air in three cities is of ‘very poor’ category. Manesar has the worst air quality in the state with 327 points on the Air Quality Index (AQI), followed by Karnal’s 326 and Gurugram’s 308. The air quality of 11 other cities of Haryana has been classified as ‘poor’ (see graphic).
Of the 20 cities of the state chosen for the air quality bulletin, not even a single city has ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ air quality.
According to the officials of the state pollution control board, the quality of air has deteriorated with the sudden rise in the incidents of stubble burning. On Friday, the state saw maximum 363 active fire locations (AFLS) as detected by the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC).
The total number of stubbleburning cases in the state this season (between September 15 and October 15) has reached 850.
Though the AFLS are far below the last year’s 1,835 for the said period, officials of the state agriculture department are concerned about the imp[ending spurt in farm fire cases as the harvesting of the parmal varieties is at peak.
The chief secretary has already issued directions to the deputy commissioners to check stubble burning in their respective areas. Block-level flying squad teams comprising BDPOS, tehsildars, agriculture department officials and police personnel have also been formed by the district administration for the timely action against the erring farmers. Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Mukul Kumar said these teams will access the live reports of the stubble burning and take immediate action against the farmers.
Member secretary to Haryana State Pollution Control Board S Narayanan said fresh directions have been issued and concerted efforts are being made to ensure a check on straw fires.
Bad air days begin for Delhi as well;
AQI falls to poor
NEW DELHI: People in Delhi will have to wait for the east wind and some likely showers on
Sunday to find relief from deteriorating air quality that fell to the “poor” category on Saturday, even as the burning of farm residue in Punjab, Haryana and Pakistan continued to rise.
Delhi’s overall air quality index on Saturday was 284, Central Pollution Control board data showed, compared with 198 on Friday, which just about remained in the “moderate” category.
Air quality continued to worsen in the national capital as the evening progressed, with 18 out of 36 areas showing readings of “very poor” that could lead to respiratory illness.
There could be easterly winds and light to moderate rainfall to wash away the pollutants, the India Meteorological Department said on Saturday.
Satellite images from NASA’S
fire tracker showed a spike in the number of “red dots” that indicate stubble burning on October 16 from three days ago.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been posting the city’s air quality recordings over nearly a month to establish how stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana impacts Delhi’s air, tweeted NASA data Saturday.