Shimla: The hazy stream of rice stubble burning smog has reached the foothills of Himachal in northern Himalayas blurring an otherwise clear skies of brilliant sunshine in the hills for the last two days, say air pollution watchers here.
This week, Chief Justice of India CV Raman has slammed the Delhi government for its failure to control the air pollution that has made the life difficult for the people in the capital.
The Apex court, which is hearing the air pollution case in Delhi, has asked the government agencies to put in place policy to control air pollution in the region by taking proactive steps to check stubble burning and other sources of the air pollution.
The images of stream of smoke in Northern India have been captured by the NASA earth observatory for the last five years. It has been making headlines in the US media, observed the air pollution experts.
This time also images of the river of smoke have casted its shadow over the Delhi severing the air pollution in national capital. The the Delhi government had closed the schools and for few days it banned the entry of all non-CNG vehicles, except the ones that carry essential supplies from outside into the capital.
The air quality of the Shimla and neighbouring towns and villages deteriorate due to the airpollution caused by the smog of stubble burning, the wild fires that erupt in dry winter and summer seasons in the hills, dust and particulate matter raised by vehicles and industrial units in Baddi-Barotiwala Nalagarh, Kala Amba and Una belt in Himachal, observed the pollution expert.
The state government of Panjab and Haryana have yet to control stubble burning due to the political reasons as the farmers have been demanding compensation and machineries to dispose off the rice stubble safely.
Himachal government has also failed to control the forest fires in the major hot spots in Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Kangra and Chamba areas over the years.
The forest department talk about creating fire lines, putting the fire watchers and guards to spot and control fires. But thousands of hectare of forest areas is burnt down every dry season in the state that in turn destroys lakhs of new growing species of shrubs, herbs, plants and trees and dislodge birds and animals from their habitats.
“It happened every year as the rice stubble burning in Panjab and Haryana get worse in the post-harvesting season of paddy in the region’, observed Dr Surender Shandil, a pollution scientist. All stakeholders including villagers and staff must come to gather as a team and mechanism should be set up to detect the fire early, taking preemptive steps, he said.
