Delhi schools to be shut till Tuesday due to pollution

The Delhi
government on Friday decided to shut all schools till November 5 after a
Supreme Court mandated panel declared a public health emergency in the
Delhi-NCR region in the wake of rising level of pollution.

As the
pollution level in the region entered the “severe plus” category, the
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority banned construction
activity till November 5 and bursting of crackers during the winter season.

“In the
wake of rising level of pollution caused by stubble burning, the Delhi
government has decided to shut all schools till November 5,” Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

The chief
minister also met EPCA Chairman Bhure Lal and assured him of all cooperation in
implementing the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

“I had
an excellent meeting with Sh Bhure Lal ji, EPCA chief. I sought guidance from
him and repeated the commitment of our govt in dealing with pollution. I also
assured him all cooperation in implementing GRAP and other measures,”
Kejriwal said in another tweet.

In a letter
to chief secretaries of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Lal said,
“The air quality in Delhi and NCR deteriorated further last night and is
now at the severe plus level. We have to take this as a public heath emergency
as it will have adverse health impacts on all, particularly our children.”

Lal said
pollution touched “severe plus” levels early on Friday morning but
came back to “severe” category later. According to official data, the
overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 1 pm on Friday was recorded at 480, which
falls in the “severe” category.

An AQI
between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’,
201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’. Above 500 falls in
the ‘severe-plus emergency’ category.

On Friday
morning, Kejriwal distributed masks to school children as part of the
government’s initiative to protect them from pollution and also explained
children about stubble burning.

He told
students that smoke emerging from stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana was
causing air pollution here and asked them to write letters to chief ministers
of the two states urging them to control it.