Delhi: Farm fire impact may dip today

NEW DELHI: Emissions released by the stubble fires in the fields in Punjab and Haryana and blown by winds to Delhi accounted for 25% of the PM2.5 pollutants in the city, one of the reasons why the capital saw spiked pollution levels on Tuesday. The field fire component is expected to go down slightly to 22% on Wednesday.

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The central forecast agency, SAFAR, said on Tuesday that the wind direction in the coming two days is likely to help transport stubble burning emission to Delhi, and its simulation showed biomass burning constituting 22% of the city’s PM2.5 on November 13 “even if the present declined fire trend is assumed”. This adverse condition could change from November 15.

The effective stubble fire counts have been declining and stood at 740 on Monday. A day earlier on Sunday, the fire counts estimated by SAFAR-integrated multi-satellite methodology were much higher at 1,846. Satellite analyses by the Union ministry of environment and forests have shown the highest number of fires this year in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Patiala in Punjab and Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal in Haryana.

Burning biomass emits large amounts of pollutants, such as carbon particles and carbon dioxide (CO2). Exposure to CO2 can lead to a number of health problems, including headache, nausea, dizziness and anxiety, reduced mental alertness, cardiovascular diseases, heart attack, impaired fetal development, even death in higher concentrations.

On Saturday, Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar reviewed the steps being taken by Delhi and its neighbours to combat air pollution, and urged the state governments to start synergistic work instead of blaming each other.

Last week, the Supreme Court lashed out at the authorities for failing to curb severe air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region. It described the situation as a “question of life and death” of crores of people here, but it was “very unfortunate” that the authorities were not bothered about the crisis the people were facing. The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra ordered Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to give small and marginal farmers support of Rs 100/quintal as incentive for not burn the remnants of the rice crop.

The court also wondered why the state governments were unable to collect and purchase the harvest remains from farmers. Between October 15 and November 15 every year, the maximum number of fields in Punjab the other states see stubble-burning. The wind blows the pollutants released by the fires to Delhi, creating smog episodes and enveloping the capital in a haze.