Not just Delhi, Rajasthan’s agri belt too under ‘hazardous’ AQI

Somrita Ghosh / Dec 03, 2023, 08:29 IST

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Not just Delhi, Rajasthan’s agri belt too under ‘hazardous’ AQI

Jaipur: Not just Delhi, but there is another town located in north western part of the country that has been silently breathing extreme toxic air for quite a long time now. Rajasthan's Hanumangarh district has been reeling under hazardous AQI on numerous days in last month followed by severe category.In the month of November, the district witnessed 12 days where the AQI was above the mark of 400 which is considered 'hazardous'. The highest pollution level was seen on November 25 when AQI touched 447 followed by AQI of 438 on November 2. On both the days, the AQI in Delhi was rather lower than that in Hanumangarh.For 14 days, the air quality in the district remained in 'severe' category while the district breathed only one day under 'poor' category when the AQI was comparatively better at 171 on November 11 and two days of 'unhealthy' air when AQI was 214 and 277 on November 12 and 29.Not far behind is Hanumangarh's neighbouring district Sriganganagar and industrial area Bhiwadi which equally saw hazardous pollution levels on several days.A couple of factors have emerged which are responsible for poor quality of air in these districts which are part of the agrarian belt of the state. Agriculture being the prime occupation in this belt, stubble burning has come to light. As per a report submitted to NGT, Hanumangarh district alone had reported 684 farm fires.

However, the board officials had noted that it is mostly the grass which is burnt by the farmers and denied reports of stubble burning in particular.Along with this, factories and brick kilns are also responsible. As per the state pollution board, notice was given to 36 factory operators which include brick kilns and plaster of paris factories, which were closed. For better monitoring of the air quality, the state pollution department had added new stations and installed systems. As per the pollution board, the data was collected in winter for the first time.We also published the following articles recently

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