NEW DELHI: To curb pollution levels in the city due to the use of crackers around Diwali, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday launched the anti-cracker campaign in the city. Under the campaign, all SDMs, police officials, and 11 teams of the DPCC have been directed to ensure there is no bursting of polluting crackers across the national capital.
The teams are ensuring effective implementation on the ground, checking that crackers sold have a 'Green Cracker' logo on them, and that the crackers sold in shops are from authorised companies. "I want to appeal to the people of Delhi, this is the time when we are witnessing Covid and pollution at the same time, please do not burn crackers," Rai said.
"I also want to appeal to them to only use green crackers and keep crackers away from children, women, elderly and people with co-morbidities. For effective implementation of the campaign, we have constituted DPCC and SDM teams who are inspecting the on-ground situation," he added.
Meanwhile, the share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution dropped to 10 per cent on Tuesday due to a change in the wind direction, according to SAFAR, a central government forecasting agency. The Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said 3,068 farm fires were spotted over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Monday.
The boundary layer wind direction became southwesterly on Tuesday morning after a long spell, which is unfavourable for the transport of pollutants from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, according to the agency. The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM 2.5 pollution has “decreased significantly” and is estimated at 10 per cent for Tuesday, it said.
The national capital’s air quality though slipped back into the ‘very poor’ category again on Tuesday after recording a marginal improvement. Experts believe that stagnant night-time conditions led to accumulation of pollutants.
The share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution dropped to 10 per cent on Tuesday due to a change in the wind direction, according to SAFAR. The boundary layer wind direction became southwesterly on Tuesday morning after a long spell, which is unfavourable for the transport of pollutants from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana.
The burning issue
3,068 farm fires spotted over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on November 2
AQI though dips to 'very poor'
The national capital’s air quality slipped back into the ‘very poor’ category again on Tuesday after recording a marginal improvement. According to experts, stagnant night-time conditions led to accumulation of pollutants.