Air quality worsens, likely to improve over the weekend ‘Give machinery, not subsidy, to farmers’
WEATHER FLUCTUATION Changes in wind speed and direction are affecting levels of pollution in Delhi, say experts
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality of Delhi further deteriorated on Thursday with experts saying pollution levels may go up over the next two days.
The air quality may improve thereafter as air speed is likely to pick up during the weekend.
On Wednesday, fluctuation in the weather pushed up levels of particulate matter—one of the most dangerous and the dominant pollutant in Delhi’s air— to a 10-day high. The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi shot up from 334 on Wednesday to 360 on Thursday. The AQI had been fluctuating over the past few days. On Monday, it had touched 361 and came down to 307 on Tuesday.
“Fluctuations in the weather systems, particularly in the wind speed and wind directions, are impacting the pollution levels. The wind directions changed suddenly on Wednesday from northwest to southeast. This increased the moisture content in the air. The moisture trapped the pollutants and they started accumulating,” said D Saha, head of the air quality monitoring laboratory at Central Pollution Control Board.
The levels of particulate mat- ter – both PM10 and PM2.5 – also fluctuated. While the PM10 level showed signs of improvement in the evening, the concentration of PM2.5 spiked after a marginal decline during the day.
Both PM10 and PM2.5 remained more than 3.5 times above the safe standards. According to the Graded Response Action Plan, if the level of these two pollutants shoots five times above the safe standard and stays there for at least two days, emergency measures such as road rationing, shutting down of schools and ban on construction activities would be introduced.
Met officials, however, have said the wind is likely to pick up speed over the weekend. “Delhi could witness some shallow fog or mist in the morning over the next two days as air speed is low and moisture has gushed in. But wind is expected to pick up speed from Saturday onwards,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, a senior scientist with the regional weather forecasting centre in New Delhi.
But till the wind picks up speed, SAFAR has predicted that the air quality could worsen. NEW DELHI: A report submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) suggests that famers of Punjab and Haryana should be provided machinery instead of subsidies, to prevent stubble burning, which is partly responsible for fouling the air quality of Delhi-ncr.
The report is by senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter.
According to official estimates, over 30 million tonnes of paddy straw is annually generated in Punjab and Haryana, which is later set to fire by farmers to reduce the turnaround time between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat crop.
“The Centre and the state governments must provide machines free of cost to farmers. This requires large-scale govern- mental procurement of the agricultural equipment, which should be given to every panchayat for common use,” says the report, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times.
The Supreme Court is yet to respond to the report.
It says the most promising technologies in this area are Turbo Happy Seeder (THS), which allows for seeding without till and the Super Straw Management System (S-SMS), developed by Punjab Agricultural University, which provides for the straw to be spread on the field.
“The THS and S-SMS each cost between ₹1.2 and 1.5 lakh. Given that there are roughly 13,000 panchayats in Punjab and some 6,500 in Haryana, if even three sets of these machines are given free to each panchayat, it would only require some ₹2,000 crore to be spent in Punjab and Haryana (Punjab would need ₹1,300 and Haryana ₹650 crore),” the proposal says.
The amount should be generated by imposing a pollution charge on the sale of petrol and diesel in Delhi, which will also help in reducing the differential between the prices of petrol and diesel, which continues to remain at about ₹10 per litre because of taxes, the report, which was submitted on November 17, says.
With Delhi consuming 10 lakh tonnes of petrol and 13 lakh tonnes of diesel annually (2016-17), if a cess of ₹1 is imposed on petrol and ₹5 on diesel per litre, then the city alone will contribute ₹900 crore in one year, the report says.