A latest Nasa image shows farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, a major cause of smog in Delhi.
The Delhi government on Saturday released Nasa images and claimed that crop burning in neighbouring states is the biggest source of air pollution in the city. According to the Central agency’s special Diwali forecast, pollution during this year’s Diwali is expected to be worse than those during 2014 and 2015 due to a combination of adverse meteorological factors.
The satellite images show haze blanket across north India due to crop residue burning in Haryana and Punjab, the government sa-id. Early this month, the AAP government had asked the neighbouring states to prevent agricultural burning.
Major agricultural fires were reported by the Nasa last year, environment mi-nister Imran Hussain said in his letters to his counterparts in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh on October 4 and 5.
On the eve of this year’s Diwali, the government said it has reviewed the ambient in the national capital and its analysis show that air pollution is on the ascendence. As per the Nasa’s October 26 image, the fires raging in the fields of Punjab and Haryana due to burning of agricultural residue are causing a blanket of haze across entire north India, including Delhi, the government said.
The recurrence of the annual phenomenon show that the warning of authorities, including the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court-appointed Environ-ment Pollution Authority, went unheeded. On October 6, a high court bench had made it clear that it will hold the chief secretaries of Punjab, Rajasthan, Hary-ana, and Uttar Pradesh responsible if its orders in this regard were not implemented.
“Agricultural fires in the fields of neighbouring states particularly Punjab and Haryana are a major contributor in the deterioration of ambient air quality, which will also suffer due to inversion and calm meteorological conditions currently prevailing.
“The teams of the environment department have seized illegally imported crackers at Qutab Road area, Moti Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Patel Nagar. The drive against sale of imported illegal/ Chinese crackers is working as a deterrent and has shown an impact on the sale of imported/ Chinese crackers,” a government statement said. The Central agency, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), put the average volume (24-hour rolling) of PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter below 2.5 microns) and PM 10 (particulate matter with diameter below 2.5 microns) at 226 and 425 micrograms per cubic metre respectively Saturday afternoon.
According to SAFAR’s special Diwali forecast, pollution during this year’s Diwali is expected to be worse than those during 2014 and 2015 due to a combination of adverse meteorological factors.
