Despite regular and extensive media coverage of the deteriorating air quality in Delhi, farmers in Punjab continue to burn crop residues on their farms. The national capital and its adjoining areas fell to the ‘hazardous’ category of the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday. According to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), incidents of stubble burning has seen a spike this year.
Meanwhile, according to government air quality monitor SAFAR, the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution reduced from 44% on Friday, the season’s highest, to 17% on Saturday. But the city’s air quality is likely to remain “severe” due to calm winds, which is unfavorable for dispersion of pollutants, it said. However, it is likely to recover to a “very poor” category on Sunday due to a drastic reduction in stubble burning and change in wind direction, according to a SAFAR report.