Smog blinds Punjab, Hry; 4 dead, 30 hurt in mishaps
CHANDIGARH: Thick smog, mainly caused by stubble burning, continued to envelop parts of Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday hitting air, rail and road traffic and claiming four lives in a bus-truck collision in Ferozepur.
The Delhi high court has asked Punjab and Haryana and Delhi governments what steps they have taken to check stubble burning “the main villain behind the severe level of pollution in the region”.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) also took the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments to task and asked them to explain why preventive steps were not taken to control the “severe” air quality in the region.
“The situation is not changing as the winds are calm and no rains are predicted over the next few days, which is resulting in heavy concentration of pollutants in the air,” said Chandigarh MeT department director Surinder Paul.
In Punjab, four people were killed when a roadways bus and a truck collided on the Ferozepur-Fazilka road on Tuesday morning due to poor visibility.
In Haryana, four people were injured in a pileup on the Rohtak-Bhiwani road.
Long-distance trains from Bathinda to Delhi via Sirsa and Hisar are running late by an hour, while Haryana Roadways has cancelled many morning long-route buses to avoid accidents.
Four trains from Jalandhar were also delayed due to fog on Tuesday morning.
Air traffic was hit in Amritsar as six flights failed to land. Officials said three flights were cancelled due to poor visibility and three flights were not allowed to land. Chandigarh-Delhi operations were also hit as six flights were delayed due to smog.