New Delhi: Even as the national capital battles with depleting air quality and AQI continues to slide further despite corrective measures, the recent set of data unearths the real reason behind Delhi’s severe category. More than a week has passed after Diwali, still there is no let-up in city’s pollution rather it’s on an uptrend.
Data shows that stubble burning is continuing unabated in Punjab. The number of daily stubble burning cases are on the rise. About 4,000-4,500 stubble burning incidents are being reported daily for the past 3-4 days.
Stubble burning as key reason for Delhi’s poor quality is well-known. But, this reality check comes as an eye-opener for propagandists and discourse creators who went a long distance in demonising Diwali festival and pinning all the blame on bursting of crackers.
Rise in smog & other key constituents (as shown in table below) clearly shows that pollution is on the rise and Delhi’s air quality is being severly compromised, the reason for which is stubble burning and not firecrackers.
However, farmers have said that they are burning the stubble out of helplessness and asked the state government to pay compensation to them to stop the burning of stubble in their fields. They have also alleged that propaganda is being run against the farmers.
Meanwhile, a layer of smog shrouded Delhi-NCR on Friday as the air quality in Delhi continued to remain under the “very poor” category. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) under the Ministry of Earth Science reported that the air quality is in the ‘very poor’ category in Delhi with an air quality index (AQI) of 390. According to the government agencies, an AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 are marked as severe/hazardous.
Thick layer of smoke and haze engulf Delhi, air quality ‘very poor’
Visuals from Central Delhi pic.twitter.com/rZFO504FPR
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2021
Delhi air quality ‘very poor’; Current Air Quality Index (AQI) at 360, as per SAFAR pic.twitter.com/7BI36WKKBr
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2021
The following graph uncovers the truth behind the increasing air pollution in the national capital, holding stubble burning responsible for it over fire crackers on Diwali.
Earlier, a live fire picture of space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) suggested a similar conclusion for the poor air quality in Delhi-NCR.
