The Supreme court on Wednesday slammed chief secretaries of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh over deteriorating air quality in Delhi and NCR. The Court, which lashed out at authorities for failing to curb severe air pollution in the region, directed the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to provide support of 100 rupees per quintal within 7 days to small and marginal farmers who have not burned the stubble.
Observing that agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy and it’s bounden duty of the state to look after the interest of farmers.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said it is absolutely necessary that the farmers are provided necessary machines to prevent stubble burning. The bench directed the Centre and state governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to prepare a comprehensive scheme within 3 months to take care of environmental issues.
Delhi breathed easier on Wednesday as pollution levels dropped further due to clearer skies and moderate wind speed but weather experts feared a cloud cover at night and light drizzle could lead to deterioration of air quality. The air quality index in Delhi hovered around 180.
At Anand Vihar the air quality index was 272 while it was 182 at ITO.
In Uttar Pradesh, air quality index at Noida was 234. At Greater Noida it was recoded as 278. In Ghaziabad it was 258 while air quality was 281 in Lucknow.In Varanasi air quality was 253.
In Haryana air quality index was 205 at Faridabad, while in Gurugram the index was 166.
In Bihar, the air quality index was recorded 323 at Patna.
An AQI between 0 to 50 is considered ‘good’ to breath.
On Sunday, pollution level in Delhi peaked to a three-year high as high humidity due to light rains on Saturday led to formation of more potent secondary particles.
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