Amid Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR, SC Says Farm Fires Need to be Stopped in Punjab, Other States

Amid Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR, SC Says Farm Fires Need to be Stopped in Punjab, Other States

Air Pollution Latest Update: Amid deteriorating air quality in the national capital, theSupreme Court on Friday asked Centre and the Punjab government about what steps they are taking as a long-term measure to slowly phase out paddy to restore the water table in Punjab.  The Supreme Court said, “We want farm fires stopped, we want air quality to get better. It’s your business how it occurs.”

The top court made it clear that it wants farm fires to stop. “We suggested a methodology, you do it however you want. But farm fires must be stopped. Some emergency measures are required to stop the farm fires,” the Supreme Court said.

About today’s rain in the national capital, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the people have to pray only, sometimes wind comes and helps, and sometimes rains. “God may have heard the prayers of people and intervened, no thanks to the government,” says Justice Kaul.

The Supreme Court expresses concern on the reducing groundwater in Punjab and says there is a need to phase out paddy cultivation in the state. “Water table in Punjab is going down. We don’t want another desert there. Phasing out of paddy is needed,” the Supreme Court observed.

With continuous stubble burning, the city of Bathinda in Punjab remained veiled under a blanket of smoke on Friday morning. The air quality index (AQI) in Bathinda has been in the ‘very poor’ category for the past two weeks.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) for Bathinda on November 9 was 372, which is very poor.

Likewise, the air quality in the city was recorded at an AQI of 215, on November 6, which is again in the very poor category. The AQI in the city remained in the poor zone on November 2.

However, the morning rains in parts of Delhi on Friday offered marginal improvement in the toxic air that people in the national capital had been battling with over the past few weeks.

The overall air quality in Delhi at 7 am today was 407, according to data by the government’s air-quality monitoring agency SAFAR. The Air Quality Index recorded at 10 am was at 361 which according to the index range falls in the ‘Very Poor’ category but showed a slight improvement from the “Severe” category.

According to the data released by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), two stations recorded ‘Severe’ AQI -Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium had AQI of 407 at 10 am today.

At Shadipur, the AQI was at 405. Among areas that had ‘Very Poor’ air quality index were Sonia Vihar at 399, Ashok Vihar at 390, Bawana at 389, Wazirpur at 385, ITO and Jahangirpuri both recorded 381 AQI, Vivek Vihar recorded an AQI of 380.