The air quality panel has also asked these states to submit compliance reports by August 30. (file)
New Delhi:
Ahead of the harvesting season, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) asked Delhi and neighboring states to ensure adoption and implementation of a standard protocol developed by ISRO for assessment of crop residue burning incidents using satellite data Is.
Compulsory to formulate and execute plans for prevention and control of air pollution in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas, the Commission in consultation with Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan to develop a time bound comprehensive action plan Said. Stakeholder agencies responsible for monitoring and reporting of agricultural residue burning incidents on a protocol basis.
The Commission in a meeting held in December last year with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had stressed the need to develop and implement a standardized methodology for monitoring fire incidents in the NCR and adjoining areas.
This protocol has been prepared in consultation with stakeholder agencies like State Remote Sensing Center and Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
“Now, therefore, in view of the imperative need for monitoring and control of air pollution caused by stubble burning, the Commission… to the Government of NCT of Delhi to adopt standard protocols for assessment of crop residue burning incidents using satellite and directs to ensure the implementation of the data,” the instructions read.
The commission said that the protocol should be adopted uniformly in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi and not limited to Punjab and Haryana only.
The panel on air quality has also asked these states to submit compliance reports on adopting the protocol by August 30.
The northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh attract attention during the paddy harvesting season between October 15 and November 15.
Farmers set their fields on fire to quickly remove the crop residue left behind after harvesting and before the cultivation of wheat and potatoes. This is one of the main reasons for the alarming increase in pollution in Delhi-NCR.
Despite the ban on stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, farmers continue to disregard it as there is a small window between harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat.
The high cost of manual or mechanical management of straw is a major reason why farmers choose to burn it.
State governments are providing 50 to 80 per cent subsidy to farmers and cooperatives to purchase modern farm equipment for in-situ management of paddy straw, to set up paddy straw based power plants and to conduct mass awareness campaigns against stubble burning .
But these measures are yet to have any significant impact on the ground.
According to a recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a Delhi-based non-profit policy research institute, relatively long stubble burning periods and adverse meteorological conditions were primarily responsible for Delhi’s deteriorating air quality. Last year in winter.
The analysis showed that the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels rose by over 30 per cent for seven days in 2020 (between October 10 and November 25) from three days in 2019.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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