New Delhi: As Delhis air quality entered "severe" category on Monday, states Environment Minister Kailash Gahlot accused Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan government of not taking the issue seriously. In a letter addressed to the Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar, Gahlot raised the issue of stubble burning in neighbouring states that has created a smog like environment in Delhi, where no state ministry or local munipal corporation attended the meeting that was held by the Central Environment Ministry. "A meeting was called by the environment minister on November 9. However, environment ministers from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan were missing from the meeting. I think the seriousness through which we should approach the situation, is not happening," Gahlot said during a press conference here. Addressing the issue of air pollution Gahlot also showed the letter addressed to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, saying that as stubble burning in the neighbouring states is one of the major reasons for air pollution in Delhi, no minister attended the meeting by the state environment ministers. Gahlot said that all three major municipal corporations and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) were not called for the meeting. "When we talk about dust pollution and garbage burning, then according to the Supreme Courts order major MCD agencies are connected with the issue. If agencies like MCD and DDA dont take the issue seriously, then I believe there is a lack of political will among the authorities," Gahlot told reporters. Delhis air quality entered "severe" category on Monday evening, with Environment Ministry based weather forecasting agency SAFAR predicting that the quality may further deteriorate in the coming days. Approaching winters and increase in stubble burning are said to be the main reasons for the bad quality of air in the national Capital. At 10:37 am, the air quality index (AQI) was 331. However, by evening areas like Rohini (410), Bawana (408) and Mundka (405) entered "severe" category. According to experts, with approaching winter, a dip in the minimum temperature makes the air cold and heavy leading to accumulation of pollutants close to the ground. With stubble burning still taking place in Punjab and Haryana, Delhis air condition has gone down further. Meanwhile, the state environment minister in his letters also asked the authorities to take immediate action and stop stubble burning. "The Union Environment Ministry has submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court that to prevent burning of stubble, they distributed about 63 thousand machines to farmers of Punjab and Haryana in 2018-19 and 40 thousand machines in 2019-20, while there are only 27 lakh farmers in Punjab itself," said Gahlot. AQI is likely to deteriorate further in the coming days, with improvement towards very poor is predicted only by November 14.

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