The burning truth-As farmers set fire to fields, Delhi braces for smog
The World Health Organisation said earlier this year India was home to the world's 14 most polluted cities, with Delhi ranked the sixth most polluted
Hours after a mechanised harvester chugged through the rice paddy, flames and a thick plume of black smoke rose into the twilight sky in India's northern Haryana state as farmers burned the residue to prepare for the next season's planting. Similar fires seen by a Reuters reporter last week in the nation's farm states of Haryana and neighbouring Punjab suggest that efforts by authorities to stave off a massive spike in pollution in nearby New Delhi in the next few weeks may fail. Late last year, Delhi and a large part of northern India were covered in a dangerous toxic smog that forced authorities to shut schools, ban diesel-run generators, construction, burning of garbage and non-essential truck deliveries.
The World Health Organisation said earlier this year India was home to the world's 14 most polluted cities, with Delhi ranked the sixth most polluted. As pollution levels climbed to 12 times the recommended limit and the Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency in the capital last year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the city a "gas chamber." On Friday, he warned the city may face the same fate this year because of the unrestrained stubble burning. A spokesman of the federal environment ministry declined to comment. A spokesman for the Haryana government READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
– BS / BUSINESS STANDARD