Haryana’s AQI at 300 due to stubble burning

CHANDIGARH: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data reports air quality index (AQI) of five cities of Haryana to have crossed 300 points on Tuesday, October 14, and was categorised as “very poor”. Even though air quality in Delhi was better than cities of Haryana, AQI in many parts of Delhi like Rohini, Narela, Lajpat Nagar, Wazirpur, crossed the 300 mark.

S. Narayanan, member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), on Monday, October 12, said that one of the major reasons of poor level of air quality in Karnal and Kurukshetra is stubble burning whereas in Faridabad and Gurugram, regional reasons are to be blamed. Narayanan also assured that the government is taking all the required measures to enhance AQI.

The air quality of the paddy cultivated areas was worse than the districts that have small areas for paddy cultivation. This evidently shows that stubble burning was the chief source of pollution here. Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) detected 158 new cases of Active Fire Locations in the state until Monday evening.

As stated by HSPCB data, on an average, 150 incidents of active fire locations are reported every day, in which Kurukshetra district surpassed others with 260 incidents. In addition to farm fires, industrial pollution is also contributing to the degrading air quality in Gurugram, Sonipat and Karnal.