Last year, Diwali fell in the beginning of November when the air quality was already at 'severe' levels worsened after. The research, however, shows that crackers contributed very little to pollution levels.
A study by researchers at Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) department of environmental sciences has stated that measures like the Odd-Even scheme will not help in controlling pollution levels that the Capital is currently witnessing, as it is not the vehicular pollution but stubble burning in fields in neighbouring states that is causing the air quality to worsen.
Researchers studied pollution patterns between October 1 and November 10, 2016, when air quality had touched similar severe levels as last three-four days and found that it was mainly stubble burning from farm fields in Punjab and Haryana that contributed to the air quality going bad while other things like crackers and vehicular pollution did not have much effect.
Last year, Diwali fell in the beginning of November when the air quality was already at 'severe' levels worsened after. The research, however, shows that crackers contributed very little to pollution levels.
"We conducted a study on pollution patterns in Delhi and NCR for a similar period of 2016. We studied the material present in pollutants and found that it was mainly carbonaceous material," said JNU professor AP Dimri who headed the research team.
"Things like nitrogen and sulphur, present in crackers were not present in a significant amounts. On further study, we found a large amount of biomass and residue of cow dung in the pollutants, which is not emitted by diesel burning, which means vehicles are not causing that kind of pollution," he added
As a way, for controlling the severe pollution in the Capital, the government had on Thursday announced that Odd-Even vehicle scheme should be implemented in Delhi for a week starting on Monday. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going to hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss its implementation.
RESEARCHERS SAID
- Despite the ban on crackers during Diwali, there is no change in pollution levels
- Mainly due to farm residue burning in neighbouring states that worsened air quality
- Pollutants affected by weather conditions make particles settle in the air
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