In its effort to control air quality from turning toxic again, the Delhi government on Wednesday said that only CNG and electric vehicles will be allowed entry into the city from 27 November. Entry of the rest of the vehicles will remain banned till 3 December, said state environment minister Gopal Rai. In addition to this, he announced that schools, colleges, and educational institutions in the national capital will reopen on 29 November. Rai also said that all government offices will open from 29 November in Delhi. The environment minister has advised the staff to use public transport. Special buses will be deployed for them, he said.
This comes after the Supreme Court earlier in the day said that the air quality crisis in the national capital calls for a scientific study. The court also suggested a statistical-based model on wind patterns to take advanced measures to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR before the situation deteriorates. A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said that advance measures must be taken to deal with Delhi’s air quality crisis. It observed that when the weather becomes severe only then do governments take measures to control it.
“You need to have a model for different seasons of Delhi, as you don’t have the same weather throughout. There has to be scientific analysis based on seasons of the year, causes of pollution and expected wind direction. This action has to be taken in advance. Why should Delhiites suffer from air quality which is poor or severe?” said Justice Chandrachud.
Asking the Centre and state governments to continue the measures already suggested to tackle air pollution for a few more days for the next two-three days, it said that in the meantime, if the pollution level becomes 100, then some restrictions can be lifted. To tackle increasing air pollution levels in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 13 November had announced a ‘pollution lockdown’ under which the schools were closed for physical classes for a week. Classes, however, continued through online mediums.
The Delhi government had, earlier on Monday, lifted the ban on construction and demolition activities in view of an improvement in the air quality. The air quality in the national capital significantly improved from the “very poor” to the “poor” category on Wednesday for the first time in the last 10 days, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR). The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 280.
Source: livemint.com
