NEW DELHI: Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Saturday said that pollution is not just limited to northern states of the country and every citizen will have to think about it.
"Pollution is a global issue. It is not limited to Northern Indian states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi and stubble burning. Both the farmers and city residents will have to think over this issue. Rather, every citizen of the country will have to think about this issue," said the minister.
His comments come after farmers in Amritsar on November 5 demanded a compensation of Rs 7,000 per acre from the state government to control stubble burning in their fields.
"We demanded 7000 Rs per acre to handle the stubble burning. But the government has not given us that money. No farmer wants to set the stubble on fire. If the government does not want to give us the subsidy, they can take the stubble from us," a farmer had said.
Stubble burning is a process of setting on fire the straw stubble, left after the harvesting of grains, like paddy, wheat, etc. The process of burning farm residue is one of the major causes of air pollution in parts of north India, deteriorating the air quality around this time of the year. Combing with vehicular emission, it adversely affects the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital.
The Air Quality Index of Delhi continues to remain in the 'severe' category, informed the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research on Saturday. As per SAFAR's analysis at 6 am today, Delhi's overall air quality was found to be in the 'severe' category with the overall AQI standing at 533.