In an emergency meeting on Wednesday, lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal approved the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA)’s decision to enforce these measures enlisted under the ‘severe plus’ or emergency category of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attended the meeting.
Baijal instructed authorities to put an immediate halt on civil construction works and ban the entry of trucks, except those carrying essential commodities, in the city as the EPCA announced that pollution levels have hit ‘severe plus’.
Traffic Police, Transport Department, Municipal Corporations and DPCC have been instructed to implement such orders. A decision on whether or not to implement the odd-even car-rationing scheme will be taken on Thursday, the EPCA said.
“Transport Department directed to intensify public transport services. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was told to increase frequency of service of Delhi Metro. Further, Municipal Corporations, DPCC and Industries Department were also instructed to enforce ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil,” a release from lt Governor office stated.
During the meeting, the Supreme Court-appointed EPCA, which is empowered to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), said it has decided to ramp up the plan to ‘severe plus’ in view of the prevailing smog episode.
“The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) task force has advised EPCA that given the prevailing air pollution emergency in the city, there is a need to take actions which are listed in the severe plus category,” it said.
After Diwali last year, Delhi witnessed a similar episode of smog which lasted nearly a week, prompting authorities to declare such emergency measures for the first time in the city’s history.
Subsequently, the lt-Governor directed that agencies such as the municipal corporations and the Delhi Metro should strictly enforce the decisions taken by the EPCA, including hiking parking fares by four times.
The civic bodies were dilly-dallying in executing the EPCA’s orders. However, it was decided that metro will not have to slash commuting fares temporarily as it already has a differential pricing system for peak and off-peak hours in place.