Delhi air pollution: Capital to launch solution for stubble burning from October 11

Delhi set to roll out a solution for stubble burning from October 11! Even as the air quality in Delhi touched poor category, Delhi government is set to put an end to the practice of stubble burning, which is one of the major reasons of poor air quality of the city. CM Kejriwal on Tuesday said that a new stubble decomposer solution will be provided to farmers of the national capital for free, the IE reported. Kejriwal also said that the decomposer solution which is being manufactured at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) will be made available to farmers from October 11.

Speaking at a village in Southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh region where the manufacturing of the solution began on Tuesday, Kejriwal said that the solution once sprayed over the entire paddy growing farms in the city would convert the stubble into compost. Starting from Tuesday, this will get ready in about 4 days and from October 11, the solution will be made available to all farmers of the city. If this solution delivers a positive outcome for farmers, then it can be replicated in other parts as well. This is particularly so as the process of manufacturing and transporting the solution is very economical. The Delhi government is only incurring about Rs 20 lakh for spraying the solution in about 700 acres of paddy growing farms of the city.

To get their farms sprayed by the decomposer, all farmers of the city have been asked to fill a form specifying the date and their address and submit it to the district administration. According to the Indian Express report, 25 litres of water is boiled with about 150 grams of jaggery which is then mixed with about 50 gm besan and four decomposer capsules. After being kept for about four days in a dark room, the solution can be mixed with about 500 litres of water and sprayed over the stubble.

How stubble burbing contributes to Delhi’s severe air quality
Notably, the smoke, which emits from the burning of stubble, is a major constituent of the severe air quality experienced in the month sof October and November in the Delhi-NCR region. Stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also are understood to be contributing to the severe air quality of Delhi. The composer developed by the IARI apart from being used in Delhi is also being used on a trial basis in some parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.