Kejriwal-Khattar back and forth over Delhi smog ends, Delhi CM to meet Haryana counterpart on Wednesday

Delhi's air quality remained in the emergency category for the second straight day today. However, monitoring agencies have forecast a gradual clean-up from tomorrow.

Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar tweeted this on the issue of pollution: "My letter to Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal regarding stubble burning & pollution."

My letter to Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal regarding stubble burning & pollution. pic.twitter.com/3rd9Qvi5RQ- Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) November 13, 2017

To this tweet, Kejriwal tweeted back his reply that Khattar was unable to make time for him in Delhi. "Khattar ji called. He is in Del till tomo. Says he is v busy n can't meet me in Del. He has asked me to come to Chandigarh on Wed. I look forward to meeting him in Chandigarh on Wed," he tweeted.

Khattar ji called. He is in Del till tomo. Says he is v busy n can't meet me in Del. He has asked me to come to Chandigarh on Wed. I look forward to meeting him in Chandigarh on Wed- Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 13, 2017

Amongst this Twitter conversation of making plans to discuss the pressing issue of pollution, a Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachudon on Monday, sought responses from the Centre and Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab state governments on an emergency like situation in the region.

Both the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and SAFAR predicted that air quality will start improving tomorrow and may turn 'very poor', which is a notch better than 'severe'.

Air quality will be out of the emergency category, as per the Centre-notified Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) once these levels fall below 500 and 300 respectively.

The impact of smoke from stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana has come down substantially, both the CPCB and SAFAR said, explaining that the wind direction has changed to southeast (through western Uttar Pradesh).

"Very light rain/drizzle is likely to occur on November 15. Under the above scenario, atmospheric circulation over Delhi will become favourable for reduction of air pollutants from this evening," the CPCB said.

A 'very poor' AQI comes with the warning that people may develop respiratory illness on prolonged exposure while exposure to 'severe' air affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing respiratory or cardiovascular diseases.

With inputs from agencies