New Delhi: There is no conclusive data to establish that foul air in Delhi is driving people to commit suicides, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Javadekar said that a mixed trend of results was observed after monitoring the ground water quality in the vicinity of eight landfill sites in Delhi. They were monitored for 15-physico-chemical parameters apart from six heavy metals.
"The ministry has no scientific data or information to conclude that foul air in Delhi and NCR is driving people to suicides. No apex body has been constituted to study this problem," he said.
Javadekar said that the ambient air quality in Delhi is affected due to vehicular and industrial pollution, construction related activities, road dust etc.
"Delhi faces problem of environmental pollution. Ambient air quality in Delhi is affected due to vehicular and industrial pollution, construction related activities, road dust etc. The other main reasons include discharge of large quantities of untreated or partially treated sewage and generation of huge quantum of municipal solid waste," he said.
The minister also said that there is no study to confirm that burning of harvested crops in nearby states is also polluting air in Delhi.
"There is no conclusive study available to establish the long range transport of plume of fine particles or various gaseous pollutants due to stubble burning from neighbouring state would always drift towards a particular city. It would depend upon prevailing meteorological conditions including wind direction, wind speed, mixing height etc. Stubble burning is practised by farmers in various states which causes air pollution," he said.
