As Yet Another Stubble Burning Season Is Set To Begin, Delhi Is Gearing Up For Sky-High Pollution Levels Yet Again

As reports of isolated cases of stubble burning begin to emerge from Punjab and Haryana, national capital New Delhi is bracing for toxic air days.

This year so far had been good, with both Delhi and Gurugram registering the cleanest September in many years.

The air quality of Delhi-NCR is set to plummet as the winter set in, due to the Diwali festivities and the stubble burning in neighboring states. However, there are no plans or strategies to address the crisis this year too.

BCCL/ FILE

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has said that much needs to be done to address the issue of stubble burning.

The minister said the problem of stubble burning was old and steps have been taken to tackle it by the Modi government.

"The biggest question and it will come again is stubble burning," Javadekar said.

He said farmers in Haryana and Punjab have been burning stubble for years and if such air reaches Delhi, it adds to worries.

"If the (polluted) air comes to Delhi, the issue becomes serious. For this, the central government has provided assistance of Rs 1150 crore and 18,000 machines have been given to farmers in Punjab and Haryana. They will not need to burn the stubble. It will be broken and will be turned into manure," he said.

AFP/ FILE

Javadekar, however, said more needs to be done. "There is a need to do it much more. Now it has started, earlier it had not even started. It has been burning for 20 years, but work has started now,' he said.

Despite a ban and tough crackdown by officials, stubble burning has been happening in Punjab and Haryana for years now, making matters worse for Delhi each passing year.

But the government has claimed that there was a nearly 40 percent reduction in the number of stubble burnings last year.

"through the various efforts under the Central Sector Scheme on ¡®Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi¡¯ the paddy residue burning events have reduced by 15 percent and 41 percent in 2018 as compared to that in 2017 and 2016, respectively in all these States as per the satellite data,¡±Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Trilochan Mohapatra said.

BCCL/ FILE

Mohapatra said more than 4,500 villages in Punjab and Haryana were declared zero stubble burning during 2018 as not a single crop burning incident was reported from these villages during the year.

He also expressed confidence that crop burning would further reduce this year.