At 2pm on Tuesday, the real time air quality index stood at 306, a level categorised as ‘hazardous’ by Swiss group IQAir.
“We direct the state government of Punjab and adjacent states to Delhi – Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – to ensure that crop (residue) burning is stopped forthwith,” Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said.
Farmers in Punjab and Haryana usually burn crop stubble left behind after rice is harvested in late October or early November to quickly clear their fields before planting wheat crops.
The practice has been followed for years and the resultant smoke has typically accounted for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of Delhi’s October-November pollution, according to federal government’s air-quality monitoring agency SAFAR.
Source: CNA
