With the level of air pollution deteriorating further in the National Capital Region, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (EF&CC) will take stock of the short and long term measures with the State officials of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
In a meeting to be scheduled for Friday under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Environment Forest &Climate Change, the officials are likely to deliberate upon the large-scale awareness campaigns on the impact of open burning of bio-mass residue in their respective States.
Also, the will debate upon the measures that the district machineries had taken to maintain a strict vigil over instances of stubble burning and effective preventive action thereafter.
last week, picture taken by National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) clearly showed farmers in Punjab and Haryana burning paddy stubble. As a result, Delhi and its adjoining areas are enveloped in smog, though the intensity is less this time, an official said. Based on NASA images, the Delhi Government has reviewed present scenario of air quality.
Earlier at a meeting held by the Central Pollution Control Board, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had agreed to start air quality monitoring in rural areas to access the impact of the crop residue burning in the neighbouring States on the ambient air quality and co-relate the same with the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and NASA imagery.
It is understood that the CPCB will deliberate upon the initiatives it had made with the NRSA to obtain satellite imagery on a daily basis to study the air movement pattern from the burning of the crop residue.
The officials will be briefed about the linkage which is to be provided to the Pollution Control Committees of various States in the NCR for identification of hot spots and subsequent action taken by the local bodies.
A senior officer said all the State agencies would be required to provide details about the action they had taken to implement the directions of the National Green Tribunal to bring down pollution levels in the NCR of Delhi.
The Punjab Pollution Control Board is expected to deliberate upon the cases which have been registered against the farmers for burning paddy in the fields during the past three years.
Studies based on the satellite imagery of the ludhiana-based Punjab Sensing Centre indicate there is about 40 per cent reduction in paddy straw burning in the State.
The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department in Haryana held as many as 140 inter-State and about 3,600 district level training camps on the harmful effects of straw burning and alternate measures available to stop biomass burning. The State administration had issued directions to tehsildars and patwaris to issue statutory warnings in the villages for persuading and educating the farmers not to burn left over straw in the open fields.
Sources said there is no solution as crop residue burning itself is at peak in Punjab as farmers have to sow the next crop in less than 20 days and burning is the only solution to remove the residues.
Both the Punjab and Haryana Governments have imposed a ban on burning paddy residue which could lead to prosecution of erring farmers.
Burning of paddy husk mostly leads to air pollution, smog and also results in medical problems such as breathing trouble, allergies and asthma attacks.