Scientist Says Crop Burning Causes 70% of Delhi Pollution

After several meetings at the Centre and the state level, some measures were announced to tackle the situation.

• Regulations on diesel vehicles and trucks, halt on construction work, partial ban on crackers and sprinkling water to settle the dust are among the measures taken.
  
• Companies are facing a 5-10% staff crunch as pollution affects employees’ health.
  
• Virat Kohli, in a video message, urged Delhiites to act against pollution and act responsibly.
  
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav directs officials to tackle smog and to enforce rules strictly in the state.
  
• A study found that crop burning increases risk of cancer, kidney damage, cataracts among other illnesses.
  
• Government scientist Gufran Beig has said that crop burning caused 70% peak in Delhi pollution.
  
• NGT bans any kind of construction work, garbage-burning in Delhi NCR for next 7 days
  

Delhi has been reeling under the dire effects of a blanket of smog covering it since more than a week. As the shocking statistics keep coming in, some concrete measures have finally been taken to curb the air pollution.

Here are all the live updates on the air you’re breathing.

Smog Over Pollutant-Laden Yamuna

This image taken by The Indian Express’ Abhinav Saha goes to show how grim the situation in Delhi really is. Devotees offer Chatt Puja at the Yamuna river which is over-run by pollutants from nearby industries.

Sales of Air Purifiers Surge by 400% in Delhi

Owing to the air pollution, there has been around 400 percent surge in demand of air purifiers in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), a report said on Tuesday.

According to HomePunch, an e-commerce platform for home and kitchen appliances, more and more consumers are logging in to their platform to buy air purifiers.

The sales surge is unexpected. We have alerted all our brands, their wholesale and retail networks to be ready with available stocks.

Sachin Goel, CEO, HomePunch

Since the morning post-Diwali, the Delhi-NCR, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been reeling under severe air pollution.

According to experts, the smog is the result of farmers burning crop stubble and residue in and around Delhi-NCR, unsettled dust due to heavy construction activities and vehicular emissions, further intensified by cracker-burning during Diwali.

SC to Centre: Draft Plan to Tackle Air Pollution

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to devise a common minimum programme to deal with the menace of air pollution. It gave the Centre 48 hours to respond on the issue, reports PTI.

Real Pollution in Delhi is Political: Parrikar

Senior BJP leader, Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday in a veiled reference to the AAP government in Delhi said that the rising pollution levels are a result of the political slugfest in the capital city.

Taking aim at the Arvind Kejriwal government, the Defence Minister said: “The real pollution in Delhi is political pollution”.