New Delhi: “This is the national capital. Look at the signal we are sending to the world,” the top court told the government this morning. Supreme Court on Delhi Pollution also said that, “The air quality crisis in Delhi calls for a scientific study, and “ad-hoc measures” won’t help.” The court stressed in a stern warning. On the issue of farm fires, the court made it clear that it “can’t micromanage” and the government should decide on fines.

New Delhi: “This is the national capital. Look at the signal we are sending to the world,” the top court told the government this morning. Supreme Court on Delhi Pollution also said that, “The air quality crisis in Delhi calls for a scientific study, and “ad-hoc measures” won’t help.” The court stressed in a stern warning. On the issue of farm fires, the court made it clear that it “can’t micromanage” and the government should decide on fines.

New Delhi: “This is the national capital. Look at the signal we are sending to the world,” the top court told the government this morning. Supreme Court on Delhi Pollution also said that, “The air quality crisis in Delhi calls for a scientific study, and “ad-hoc measures” won’t help.” The court stressed in a stern warning. On the issue of farm fires, the court made it clear that it “can’t micromanage” and the government should decide on fines.

New Delhi Oct 17 PTI As Delhis air quality plunged into the very poor category on Sunday morning Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that increase in pollution was due to stubble burning in neighbouring states as governments were doing nothing to help farmers to stop itHe appealed to the governments of Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to understand their responsibilities towards reducing stubble burning and controlling pollution For the past one month I have been tweeting data of air quality in Delhi Pollution has increased in the last 3-4 days and it is due to stubble burning in neighbouring states Farmers in neighbouring states are compelled to burn stubble as their governments are doing nothing for them towards stopping stubble burning Kejriwal said in an event organised to lay the foundation stone of a 1430 bed new government hospital in Shalimar Bagh The chief minister said the national capital has two kinds pollution one is its internal pollution that emanates from vehicles dust while the other one is because of stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Kejriwal said the Delhi government is doing every bit from anti-dust campaign to spraying of bio-decomposer liquid in fields to controlling inbound pollution but the neighbouring states were yet to actTo stop stubble burning in Delhi we sprayed bio-decomposer solution in fields Farmers dont need to burn stubble after spraying it Why cant state governments of Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh spray this liquid Kejriwal askedI request governments of neighbouring states to understand their responsibilities towards stopping stubble burning and help their farmers responsibly he saidAt 2 pm on Sunday the AQI in Delhi was 339 which is in the very poor category An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severeEarlier in the day Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai also reiterated similar concerns and said that air quality in the city was deteriorating because of increasing incidents of stubble burning in neighbouring statesHe also appealed for a responsible approach from governments of these statesRai said that it was a normal trend that as the incidents of stubble burning in Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh increase the air quality starts deteriorating in the city He said that two days back the AQI was 171 but as the incidents of stubble burning increased in neighbouring states the AQI started getting worse and it was 284 on SundayThis has been a normal trend We have appealed to neighbouring states to control incidents of stubble burning but to no avail We have started spraying of bio-decomposer in fields as an alternative to stubble burning the similar should be done by neighbouring statesWe need a responsible approach from neighbouring states in reducing the number of stubble burning They should make arrangements to spray bio-decomposer in their states so that pollution can be controlled Rai saidHe said that to control the citys internal pollution the Aam Aadmi Party AAP government was taking a number of measures including spraying of a bio-decomposer solution in fields and also cracking down on violatorsWe have started anti-dust campaign and are taking action against violators From Monday we will also launch Red Light On Gadi Off campaign to reduce vehicular pollution As a long term solution we are promoting electric vehicle policy and working of tree plantation issues We have also shut coal operating Badarpur plan to reduce pollution the environment minister saidHe also said that awareness campaigns such as appealing to public to stop use of private vehicle at least for one day are also being started PTI AKM KJ KJ