Crop Burning: Air Quality Plunges In Delhi

New Delhi: It’s slash-and-burn time in Haryana and Punjab, and that means smoggy air in the country’s capital. Farmers use this technique of burning the post-harvest crop residue every year to clear the land for the next season.

Smoke from acres of farms travels to Delhi and is one the major reasons of air pollution here. Things become worse in winter as the cooler air traps the pollutants along with vehicle exhaust, factory emissions and construction dust and raises the air quality index to 20-30 times the prescribed safe limit by World Health Organisation (WHO).

While farmers are aware that this cheap technique is illegal, they state that they have no other viable alternatives. The state government has levied fines of up to Rs 10000 on crop burning and claims that fires are down by 40 per cent in some areas. Efforts are on to educate farmers and also provide machines on 50 per cent subsidy that remove the need of burning the crops. The machines which cost around Rs 150000 are also beyond the reach of poor farmers even after subsidies, according to reports. The government also undertook a scheme to buy the straw residues in the hope that it would curb the burning process. But that scheme is also viable according to some farmers, who say that the transportation cost is not affordable.

Fourteen of the world’s 15 most-polluted cities are in India according to a report released by WHO in May. Most of these cities are in north India.