Cabinet Secy to monitor pollution situation in Delhi and neighbouring States on daily basis; watch on polluting units, burning of wastes, besides construction activities
On a day when pollution levels in the national Capital peaked to a three-year high on Sunday with the Air Quality Index (AQI) 625 recording in several parts of Delhi with residents breathing extremely polluted air, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister on Sunday hold a meeting where it was decided that Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba will monitor the alarming pollution situation in Delhi and neighbouring States on a daily basis.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi through video-conferencing just two days after the Supreme Court-mandated EPCA declared Health Emergency in the national Capital and the National Capital Region (NCR).
The Chief Secretaries of these States have been asked to monitor the situation in various districts of their respective States round-the-clock. The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet held the high-level meeting on Sunday evening to discuss the issue of deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR, officials said.
PK Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, reviewed the situation arising out of severe air pollution in the NCR, and other parts of north India.
“About 300 teams have been deployed in Delhi to reduce air pollution. Necessary machinery for this work has been distributed to the States. Main focus is given on seven industrial clusters and major traffic corridors in the NCR. The Government is keeping a close watch on polluting units and burning of wastes besides the construction activities,” the Government of India said in a statement.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the national Capital’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 494 at 4 pm on Sunday, the highest since November 6, 2016 when it was 497. Twenty-one of the 37 air quality monitoring stations recorded the AQI between 490 and 500 with air quality sensors at Aya Nagar, Ashok Vihar, Anand Vihar and Aurobindo Marg peaked out at 7 pm.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), Faridabad with AQI 493, Noida (494), Ghaziabad (499) and Greater Noida (488), Gurugram (479), residents choked on toxic air.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality monitor, SAFAR, said the city’s overall AQI reached as high as 708 around 5 pm, which is 14 times the safe level of 0-50.
An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’. An AQI above 500 falls in the ‘severe plus’ category.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government on Sunday issued a health advisory to help people fight the severe air pollution level plaguing the national capital for the past few days.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the issue of pollution should not be “politicised” and called on all neighbouring states and the Centre to “sit together” and deliberate on how to prevent stubble burning as the air quality in the national capital dipped to alarming levels.
Keriwal said his government was not indulging in “blame game” but looking for solutions to pollution caused by stubble burning.
Concerned over the level of pollution, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued masks to thousands of its personnel in view of the ‘severe’ category air quality in the national capital region.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that the Punjab government has acted against nearly 3,000 of its farmers for burning stubble. He accused his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal of doing little beyond “playing” politics to address the problem.
“Instead of addressing the problem, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is playing political games,” said Singh, asking what the AAP leader has done on the ground to resolve the issue.
The Punjab chief minister said the state authorities have initiated action against a total of 2,923 farmers in 20,729 cases of stubble burning reported till November 1. Punjab government expects about 10 to 20 per cent decline in the number of such cases this year as against 2018 as a result of the intensified drive by it, he added.
Elaborating on actions against farmers, Singh on Sunday said against a total of around 49,000 cases of stubble burning last year, this year the state government has so far received reports of 20,729 cases, with more than 70 per cent of the paddy crop already having been harvested, he said.
Singh on Saturday had proposed a “stubble management bonus” of Rs 100 for a quintal of farming produce by the Centre, while seekingits intervention to chalk out an inter-state strategy to curb the menace of air pollution. Singh further said that the enforcement teams has visited 11,286 fire incidents sites till November 1, 2019 and environment compensation amounting to Rs 41.62 lakh has been imposed in 1,585 cases with FIRs registered in 202 cases against defaulting farmers.
According to some experts, this level of pollution is equivalent to smoking 33 cigarettes a day. In the highest pollution reading yet this season, the US embassy recorded PM-2.5 level of 802 at 1 p.m. The pollution level has been rising since 1 a.m.
