NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked the agencies claiming that stubble burning is not contributing much to the air pollution in Delhi to behave responsibly and sensitively.
“None of the agencies that are claiming figures on the stubble burning component of air pollution have this machinery. If they are claiming that stubble burning is causing say 10 per cent of all air pollution, then they should also be able to tell us the source of the rest of the composition of pollution,” Kejriwal said in a statement.
Kejriwal said that sources of pollution could be measured using real-time source apportionment of pollution only. “We have been trying to import specific machinery for this purpose. If we take a sample of air of this particular place, we can check the level of pollution and also measure the components of pollution like transport, stubble burning, etc. The components or causes of pollution can only be measured by that machinery,” he added taking aim at union ministry of earth sciences’ air quality and weather forecast service, SAFAR.
In a recent report, SAFAR said that the share of stubble burning in the concentration of tiny PM2.5 particles in Delhi’s air has remained less than 10 per cent so far.
Air quality in Delhi has ranged between good to moderate over the last 7-8 months. This though is no longer the case as the numbers have now starkly gone up, the chief minister mentioned. He questioned the agencies claiming that there was not much impact of stubble burning from neighbouring areas on pollution in Delhi.
“No additional population has suddenly settled in Delhi, no sudden inflow of vehicles has happened and no new dust sources have come up in Delhi in the past 7 days. How could local sources have contributed to the spike in pollution?” asked Kejriwal.
