On November 3, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)’s forecast said that as the winds are coming from the northwest of Delhi, they would bring pollutants from stubble burning hotspots in Punjab and Haryana. It would increase its share in overall pollution in Delhi to 35% to 45%.
Central Pollution Control Board bulletin said that the overall air quality of Delhi has been marked as ‘very poor’ on Wednesday. The AQI was at 314, with PM10 and PM2.5 contributing as the main pollutants. On Tuesday, it was 303. The National Capital Region that includes Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bulandshahr and Noida also marked air quality as ‘very poor’ on Wednesday.
SAFAR said the air quality would deteriorate further from Thursday onwards, with a large contribution coming from stubble burning. Currently, its contribution stands at around 20% of overall air pollution in Delhi, which was 8% earlier. Stubble pollution adds a large quantity of PM2.5 to the national capital’s air.
As the local conditions in the national capital are predicted to be very calm for the next three days, the dispersion of the pollutants would be difficult. India Meteorological Department has forecasted that there would be strong winds on November 7 that would provide some relief.
‘Stubble burning is the main issue’
Recently, during a hearing over the firecrackers ban, Supreme Court had said that firecrackers are a temporary issue while stubble burning is the main issue. Acknowledging that the court did not get time to hear the issue, the two-judge bench of Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna said that they’d take up the issue for hearing after Diwali vacation.
On November 1, three days before Diwali, Delhi’s air quality was already in very poor category, majorly due to stubble burning in the neighbouring states, especially in Punjab. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)’s data placed Delhi’s AQI at 302. The farmers in Punjab, Haryana etc., have been extensively burning stubble, causing a steep increase in the pollution in the national capital.
