E-Paper
Ahead of Diwali, air quality deteriorates in most Haryana cities
Ahead of the Diwali festival, the air quality of Haryana’s Faridabad and Bahadurgarh cities has slipped to ‘very poor’ category while residents of 10 other cities were breathing ‘poor’ quality of air, as per the official data
Ahead of the Diwali festival, the air quality of Haryana’s Faridabad and Bahadurgarh cities has slipped to ‘very poor’ category while residents of 10 other cities were breathing ‘poor’ quality of air, as per the official data.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Bahadurgarh and Faridabad was 318 and 306, respectively. Whereas the AQI of Panipat, Gurugram, Rohtak, Kaithal, Hisar, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Bhiwani, Charkhi-Dadri and Daruhera was between 200 and 300, respectively.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, an AQI between 0 to 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’ and 101 to 200 ‘moderate’. The AQI between 201 to 300 is classified as ‘poor’ and 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and above 400 is categorised as ‘severe’. Most of the Haryana cities have ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ quality. ‘Very poor’ quality of air causes respiratory illness on prolonged exposure’ while ‘poor’ air quality causes breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.
The deteriorating air quality is a cause of concern as the officials monitoring air pollution predicted a strong possibility that it may further get worse by the end of this week.
The air quality of most Haryana cities improved last week and on September 25, all 20 cities of the state witnessed an AQI below 100. The air quality, however, dropped again with the incidents of stubble burning. The number of stubble burning incidents reached 3,038 by November 1.
With 775 incidents of farm fires, Kaithal district is at the top, followed by Karnal (740), Kurukshetra (459), Fatehabad (393), Ambala (186), Jind (183) and Yamunanagar (113).
Concerned over the deteriorating air quality, chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) MM Kutty held a video conference with the deputy commissioners of the districts where the incidents of stubble burning were being reported.
“During the virtual meeting, Mr Kutty asked why incidents of stubble burning were being reported in some districts every year,” said an official who attended the meeting, adding the chairperson has also emphasised the need to put a complete check on stubble burning and also took stock from the deputy commissioners about steps being over the air quality across NCR districts.
With Karnal reporting 740 cases of farm fires this year, deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadva claimed that there was a considerable fall in farm fires as the number has come down to 740 against 949 of last year. He said 70 FIRs have been registered against the erring farmers and a fine of over ₹10 lakh have been imposed on 397 farmers. In Kaithal, deputy commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said that a fine of ₹6.30 lakh has been imposed on 255 farmers while in Kurukshetra a fine of ₹4 lakh has been imposed on 254 farmers so far.
