Air Pollution: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar blames neighbouring states for toxic air in Delhi

Amid the ongoing political blame game between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over deteriorating air quality in the national capital, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on November 5 has placed the blame on the neighbouring states.

He said, "The neighbouring states have to shoulder the blame for the prevailing situation in Delhi with regard to air quality. There is no doubt about it."

CM Kumar added that since 2018, he has been trying to persuade the people of Bihar to avoid or stop "parali" (stubble) burning. "I have tried to convince the people of my state not to burn stubble (farm residue)," Kumar told ANI.

Meanwhile in Delhi, the air quality remained under in the ‘severe category’ for the third consecutive day. Citizens of Delhi have started complaining about sore throat and burning sensation in eyes. However, a slight improvement in the air quality has been reported today in Delhi overall Air Quality Index (AQI), which stood at 431 today. Yesterday the AQI was at 472.

The National Capital Region (NCR) – Noida and Gurugram are the worst affected. The AQI Noida stood at 529 and Gurugram records 478 AQI at 7 am today.

The AQI index between 0-100 is considered as ‘good’, 100-200 'moderate', the AQI between 200-300 considered as ‘poor’, 300-400 'very poor' and 400-500 AQI considered as 'very severe'.