PremiumDelhi faces high levels of air pollution with onset of winters, the season coinciding with paddy straw (Parali) burning in the fields in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh
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The Delhi government will start spraying Pusa bio-decomposer from 5 October to prevent stubble burning, said state environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday. He added that the central government is yet to give time for a meeting on the decomposer and other pollution-related issues.
This comes days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal charged neighbouring state governments for not taking any action to support the farmers on the issue of stubble burning.
The national capital faces high levels of air pollution with onset of winters, the season coinciding with paddy straw (Parali) burning in the fields in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The Delhi chief minister said the air is currently clean in Delhi with particulate matter levels in 'good' and 'satisfactory' categories.
"Del air quality will deteriorate from mid-Oct (stubble burning). State govts hv not taken action to support their farmers. On its own, Del air is clean. On 18 Sep- AQI- 69 (0 to 50 - Good, 51 to 100 - Satisfactory), PM10- 67, PM2.5 - 27 (0 to 30 Good, 31 to 60 Satisfactory)," Kejriwal tweeted.
The Delhi government has been pressing for adoption of Pusa bio-decomposer, a microbial solution that can reportedly turn stubble into manure, urging the Centre to ask neighbouring states to distribute it for free among farmers.
Earlier this week, senior officials of the environment and development departments of the Delhi government on Thursday submitted the 'Third Party Audit Report' regarding stubble decomposition using the bio-decomposer, to the Commission for Air Quality Management.
This audit report is conducted by the Central Government's agency WAPCOS, regarding the impact of spraying of bio-decomposer on stubble.
In the detailed report, it has been mentioned that WAPCOS has included in its audit report the effect of spraying Pusa Bio-Decomposer in about 1,935 acres of non-basmati paddy fields of 310 farmers in 39 villages of Delhi.
The officials have urged the Commission for Air Quality Management to implement the bio-decomposer technology in other states as well.
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