Third eye
Delhi Fast Turning Asthma Capital
Red spot depict paddy farm burn in
Punjab, Haryana (images courtesy NASA)
By Sunil Dang
R
ecent smog that created panic among the Delhiites
about the dipping quality of the air that they have been
forced to breathe has put some question mark over the
political parties who chose to play the blame game and
defying the authorized institutions like NGT and various court
verdict for the sake of their petty politics. For example, it’s well
known that Parli or paddy burning in Punjab and Haryana is
causing hazardous effect on the air that the Delhi-NCR people
inhale. It’s not that we have toothless institutions which don’t
have any tool to contain the dipping pollution level in Delhi-NCR.
In fact, if the various notifications of the Central Environment,
Forest and Climate Change Ministry are implemented then
they can help in controlling the pollution level irrespective of
other seasonal events that cause Delhiites to breath air that can
cause Asthama and other respiratory diseases. Measures that
the Delhi government and the MCD took after the air pollution
reached to alarming level, could have been bit more useful if the
MCD and the Delhi government had responded to the Central
Environment and Forest Ministry’s notification on time.
Not just Delhi, even Punjab and Haryana government are not
far behind. They know that paddy burning is hitting the pollution
control measures not just in their state but their neighboring
states too. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed fines
ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 15,000 on farmers to prevent
them from burning paddy fields. However, rather implementing
this decision with immediate effect, the Punjab government is
busy in its petty politics to appease the farmer community by
allowing them to continue burning the paddy field and reap its
benefits in the fast approaching assembly elections.
To prepare the field for sowing wheat, farmers burn the
paddy stubble as it involves no cost. However, toxic chemicals
are released into the atmosphere due to this. The thick smoke
which emanates as a result of setting fields on fire poses serious
health hazards for people. Burning fields also affects the quality
of the soil, robbing it of vital nutrients. The smoke contains toxic
chemicals which caus