Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has called a high-level meeting on September 9 to discuss a strategy to deal with stubble burning and pollution in the city in winter, officials said on Wednesday.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has asked Delhi and its surrounding states to "refine and update" their action plan to tackle the problem of stubble burning.
Punjab witnessed an increase of 44.5 per cent incidents of stubble burning in 2020 despite getting 46 per cent of the total funds from the central government for checking crop burning residue
The top court asked the Centre to file an affidavit detailing concrete steps to deal in future with the situation of stubble burning
May set up panel led by ex-CJI; farmer said won't be part of any such panel which does not repeal the laws
Both sides may discuss alternatives before meeting on Jan 15
Officials said while the central government wanted farmers to discuss the three Acts clause by clause, the farmers wanted nothing less than an assurance of total repeal
Centre agrees to demands on air quality ordinance, draft electricity Bill
A breakthrough in the farmer unions' key demand for an assurance on continuation of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system is also said to be in the works
Stubble burning incidents saw a steep rise of more than 20 per cent this year in comparison to the last two years, a factor which plays a significant role in spiking pollution levels in the Delhi-NCR
Pollution caused by stubble-burning has led to the high number of Covid-19 deaths in Delhi, said Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday.
After nearly 10 days, Delhi's air quality deteriorated on Monday to the "very poor" category and is likely to worsen in the next two days due to slow winds and low ventilation
Experts said anger over farm bills and the government not paying the Supreme Court-ordered financial incentive to farmers could be among the reasons for the spike in farm fires
The national capital recorded its air quality in the 'very poor' category on Thursday morning even as experts said the situation was much better compared to two days ago
Despite several weeks of rising pollution levels, farmers claim that the government has still not offered an affordable alternative to the problem
The National Green Tribunal on Monday imposed a total ban on sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) from November 9 midnight to November 30 midnight
The panel also called for encouraging "coal-using industries in NCR to minimize the use of coal in the coming months"
The national capital's air quality was recorded in the "severe" category on Saturday morning as farmers in Punjab and nearby regions continued to set their fields on fire to clear crop residue
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday directed officials to ensure that farmers are not harassed or misbehaved with when action is taken against stubble burning
The state had seen 29,156 and 24,428 incidents of paddy residue in 2017 and 2018 respectively