New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS): Nearly 53 per cent Delhi-NCR residents identified stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as the primary cause for toxic air in Delhi and surrounding areas.

To understand what the perception of citizens is on the primary cause of high levels of pollution in Delhi-NCR, online community platform LocalCircles reached out to residents of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

Over 20,000 responses were received in the survey in which 61 per cent respondents were men while 39 per cent respondents were women.

To gauge the perception of Delhi-NCR residents on the primary cause of toxic air, the survey asked: "What according to you is the primary reason for bad air quality during October to December in Delhi NCR?"

In response, the majority of the 10,037 respondents to the query identified stubble burning by farmers in adjoining states as the root cause.

The data break-up shows 53 per cent of respondents identify "stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana and UP" while a much smaller percentage or 13 per cent believe the primary cause is "motor vehicle emissions"; seven per cent blame it on "garbage burning in the city"; seven per cent on "industrial emissions"; 7 per cent on "construction activity"; while 13 per cent have no opinion.

When asked about supporting the introduction of an odd-even vehicle scheme in Delhi-NCR as a solution to reduce the air pollution level, nearly 56 per cent of respondents do not support it while 38 per cent are willing to support this step to reduce pollution and 6 per cent have no clear opinion.

Pollution level in Delhi has been in severe category since the last couple of days and GRAP III has kicked in banning construction activities.