20 Nov 2024
In the absence of appropriate greening of pavements and road cleaning, dust adds to the pollution from stubble burning.
Besides stubble burning, several geographical and meteorological factors contribute to NCR’s pollution season. Preventing these is possible only by preponing the paddy harvest season as done before 2009.
To conserve groundwater by delaying paddy harvest, the Punjab and Haryana Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, postponed the harvest season to October-November from June-October. With this change, the sowing season aligned with the monsoons, thus helping save water but triggering stubble burning in the absence of rains.
Towards dust control, by July, 85 Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSMs) were deployed in Delhi against the target of 206 for 2024. UP, Haryana, and Rajasthan received most of their targeted MRSMs.
By July end, 199 km of centre verges remained ungreened and 278 km of roadsides left unpaved. Road dust contributes 40% of PM10 and 20% of PM2.5. EV charging infrastructure targets remained unachieved, with 3,100 stations ready against a target of 4,793.