New Delhi. The national capital Delhi has turned into a gas chamber. The air quality has reached the severe category across Delhi. The whole of Delhi is covered with a blanket of fog before winter arrives. This fog is only of smoke and dust. The number of respiratory patients in the hospital has increased. In view of this condition of Delhi, the state government has implemented the fourth and final phase of the phased plan made to stop air pollution. Primary schools have been closed and half the state government employees have been asked to work from home.
After Delhi’s air quality index reached five hundred, the state government implemented the final phase of the Graded Response Action Plan and decided to implement the restrictions recommended by the Centre’s Air Quality Committee. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai gave this information. He said that the Delhi government has formed a committee to monitor the implementation of measures to curb pollution.
Along with this, it has been decided that 50 percent of Delhi government employees will work from home. Private offices have also been advised to follow this. The government has also decided to constitute a special task force to check air pollution in the hotspots i.e. the most polluted areas in Delhi. It will have six members. Gopal Rai informed that the Revenue Commissioner will prepare a time bound plan for the markets and offices.
In view of the increasing level of air pollution in the capital, it has been decided to close all the schools up to the primary level. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced this on Friday. Even before this, classes up to class VIII were made online in Ghaziabad, Noida in NCR. The National Child Protection Commission had appealed to the schools to make classes online, after which some schools in Delhi and Haryana also decided to start online classes.
However, the air quality in the national capital was recorded in the severe category on Friday. According to the data of the Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB, the overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi stood at 426 at 9.30 am. Anand Vihar and Jahangirpuri remained the most polluted places in the capital, with AQIs of 471 and 485, respectively. Meanwhile, there has been a war of words between the ministers of the central and state government and the leaders of both the ruling parties regarding the pollution of Delhi. Union Forest and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav shared an old video of Kejriwal describing Delhi as a gas chamber and said that the suggestions he is giving in this video should be implemented. Actually, the major reason for pollution in Delhi is stubble burning in Punjab and Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab.
