As the farmers in Punjab, the ones who are not blocking roads at Delhi border protesting against the farm laws, have started the yearly ritual of stubble burning, the air quality in national capital has now deteriorated to ‘very poor’. On Sunday, SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) recorded the overall AQI (Air Quality Index) of 304 at 6:30 AM.
The concentrations of major polluting particles such as PM10 and PM2.5 stood at 253 (‘poor’ category) and 125 (‘very poor’ category) respectively. According to SAFAR, the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution has gone up to 14%. According to SAFAR, favourable meteorological conditions lead to intrusion of stubble burning related air mass. With 1572 effective fire counts as per SAFAR harmonized methodology which includes data of two ISRO satellites, the stubble burning contribution in Delhi’s air has suddenly increased to 14%.
The NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) that maps fire spots showed that the clusters of fire spots in Punjab and Haryana had become denser on October 16 as compared to October 12.
The concentration of PM2.5 particles was recorded at 306 in the Delhi University area and 329 in the Mathura Road area. They both fall in the ‘very poor’ zone. Similarly, Ayanagar, IIT Delhi and Lodhi Road recorded ‘poor’ air quality, with the PM2.5 concentration figures clocking at 259, 256 and 293 respectively. In Noida, Uttar Pradesh, part of National Capital Region, also stood at ‘very poor’ with the concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 docking at 314 and 313 respectively. Gurugram, Haryana, also recorded ‘very poor’ air quality.
SAFAR has issued health advisory and stated that sensitive people should avoid all physical activity outdoors and do them indoors instead. SAFAR also advised people to stop activities if they experience unusual coughing, wheezing, breathing difficulties fatigue or discomfort in chest.
Meanwhile, Delhi government has banned sale and bursting of firecrackers on Diwali claiming that bursting the same on the Hindu festival contributes to worsened air quality. This will be third consecutive year the firecrackers will be banned in Delhi. The argument that the government gives is that because of the firecrackers, the pollution level rises in Delhi, which causes health problems for the residents. However, studies have shown that firecracker causes negligible level of pollution and major contributing factor to the deteriorating air quality is actually stubble burning by the farmers.
