It’s emergency situation in Delhi: Centre

As the spell of thick smog continues in Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that steps taken by the Delhi government to curb vehicular and dust pollution and garbage burning may not be good enough. Following his meeting with Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave on Saturday evening, he said that crop stubble burning to the scale of 16-20 million tonnes in the neighbouring states has exacerbated the pollution crisis in the last four-five days.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Friday said that Delhi is witnessing an “emergency situation” due to alarming pollution level and called a meeting of environment ministers of all neighbouring states on Monday to curb stubble burning by farmers. Mr Dave said due to high levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5, the situation has been bad through the year in Delhi, but this time round, factors like crop burning and fire crackers are responsible for the deteriorating air quality. “There is no one particular reason behind alarming air pollution in Delhi. We need to collectively address all issues and improve air quality,” the Union environment minister said.

Demanding an “urgent” intervention from the government to rein in the “large scale” influx of pollutant-laden smoke from Punjab and Haryana, chief minister Kejriwal said that the alarming levels of smog have turned Delhi into a “gas chamber.” He said he has urged the Union minister to call a chief ministerial-level meeting so that quick decisions could be taken. The lieutenant-governor will also hold a high-level meeting with Mr Kejriwal on Monday.

Mr Kejriwal claimed that vehicle restriction measures like odd-even scheme will not be able to it bring down. “Pollution has increased outdoors to an extent that Delhi resembles a gas chamber. Prima facie, the biggest reason seems to be the burning of stubble in agricultural fields in Haryana and Punjab,” Mr Kejriwal said.