New Delhi — Authorities in India stepped up efforts on Friday to deal with worsening air quality as farmers burned crop stubble and calmer winter winds left a thick blanket of fog and smog to suffocate residents in the capital region. of Delhi. Factories, construction sites and primary schools were ordered closed and Delhi authorities urged people to work from home as dangerous fine particulate pollution filled the air.
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI), which measures the concentration of very fine particles known as PM2.5 in the air — particularly harmful pollutants as they are easily inhaled and can settle deep in the lungs — crossed 470 on Friday, according to with the state Central Pollution Control Board.
Anything above 300 is classified as “hazardous” on the international AQI rating system, and at “severe” levels, air pollution “affects healthy people and seriously affects those with existing illnesses.” On Friday, many parts of Delhi recorded an AQI of over 600.
Authorities also restricted the operation of diesel-powered vehicles and dispatched trucks equipped with water sprinklers and smog guns to try to control the smog.
Passengers walk past a truck equipped with a smog gun, spraying water to curb air pollution amid heavy smog conditions in New Delhi, India, November 4, 2022. MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty
“We are also thinking of implementing the odd-even scheme for running the vehicles,” said Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister. This would see around half of Delhi’s privately owned vehicles off the roads, with odd and even number plates allowed to operate on alternating days.
Even the air quality monitors installed at the US Embassy in Delhi, which is located in one of the cleanest and greenest parts of the city, recorded an AQI of over 360 on Friday, well into the dire, “dangerous” range. level on the AQI chart displayed on the embassy website.
Residents of the Indian capital were not likely to see much improvement quickly, with weather conditions expected to remain calm and seasonal stubble burning likely to continue.
India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday accused the opposition-run northern state of Punjab of failing to stop farmers from burning the remains of their summer crops. “There is no doubt about who turned Delhi into a gas chamber,” Yadav said in a tweet.
A farmer burns straw after harvesting a crop in a field on the outskirts of Amritsar, in India’s Punjab state, October 20, 2022. NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty
Punjab’s top politician, Bhagwad Mann, has defended his government, saying it took office only half a year ago and called for a concerted effort by state and federal authorities to tackle the problem.
The Delhi government follows a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to combat air pollution in the city. The strictest measures were taken on Friday as the average air quality deteriorated to ‘Severe Plus’, with the AQI above 450.
“It is the responsibility of all of us to take initiatives at every level to stop pollution,” Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said earlier in the week.
A policeman at a checkpoint near India Gate in New Delhi, on a road leading to the presidential palace, amid heavy smog, November 4, 2022. CBS/Vijay Bedi
The Indian capital is choked with toxic air most winters thanks to a number of factors, but a significant proportion of the smog comes from massive farm fires in the neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Many farmers burn their crop residues, the stubble left out of the ground, to prepare their fields for winter crops. It is a much cheaper option than transporting straws for proper disposal.
India blames farmers for dangerous air pollution 02:02
The practice has been officially banned by the country’s Supreme Court and farmers have been warned they will face fines for violating the decree, but it has served as a weak deterrent.
Between September 15 and October 31 this year, Punjab state alone recorded 16,004 farm fires — nearly 3,700 more than the same period last year. Haryana state has recorded 1,921 farm fires this year.
Satellite imagery from NASA’s Fire Information Management System for Rescue showed a dense patch of red dots on Tuesday, indicating live fires, in Haryana over the past 24 hours.
A satellite image from NASA’s Fire Information for Rescue Management System (FIRMS) shows a dense patch of red dots, indicating wildfires, in the northern Indian states of Haryana and Punjab in the 24 hours leading up to November 4, 2022. NASA/FIRMS More