Chandigarh: With the fields in neighbouring Punjab still ablaze, Charkhi Dadri in Haryana had a more polluted morning air than Delhi’s, while seven of the state’s 22 cities with monitoring system had severe AQI (air quality Index), while most of the stations hung between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.
The AQI at 12.22pm was 460 in Charkhi Dadri and 450 in Delhi, but by 4pm, while Delhi’s reading had dropped to only 447, Charkhi Dadri’s had fallen to 412 but now Bahadurgar at 452 was more polluted than Delhi.
Air quality is suffering in both Haryana and Delhi
At this time, the other Haryana cities with severe AQI were Bhiwani (412), Faridabad (425), Fatehabad (402), Gurgaon (416), Hisar (440), Jind (429), and Rohtak (411). With this, Haryana implemented Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 4, increasing the level of restrictions in the NCR (National Capital Region) from 3. This brings a complete ban on fuels other than PNG, CNG, and biomass. Even the traffic was restricted, and the office hours staggered.
For implementing the GRAP-4 restrictions, the eivic bodies had to sprinkle water on the NCR roads to settle their dust. Mostly, it was done on the routes leading to Huda convention centre where Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and National Green Tribunal chairman justice Adarsh Goel were at an event.
It included Sirsa, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, and Kurukshetra, which are closed to Punjab’s paddy-growing area and burning fields. Haryana agriculture minister Jai Parkash Dalal blamed Punjab’s AAP government for Haryana’s deteriorating av. erage AQI. He said: “Thankfully, Punjab CM Bhagwant Maan has accepted his failure and promised to take measures next year, although this as well looked like the politics of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who for political gain can even ask the residents to evict Delhi.”
Describing the Haryana government’s measures for crop residue management, Dalal claimed that Mann’s home district had far more active fire locations (AFLs) on Friday than the entire Haryana’s count.