In a move to escalate fight against pollution, schools, colleges, skill development centres, and other educational institutions will remain closed till November 20 with exceptions for ongoing exams, said the Delhi Government on Sunday.
Besides, construction and demolition projects have been put on hold till November 17 to curb dust pollution that they are major sources of pollution in the city. The Delhi Government’s offices and Government autonomous agencies will also remain closed till November 17. The major objective behind these emergency measures is to cut down on vehicular pollutants.
Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Sunday issued orders regarding shutting of institutions and pollution activities amid high concentration of pollutants in city’s air.
An advisory has been issued to private offices to follow suit and help this initiative have an effective impact on the pollution levels.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, “The Cabinet and the officers held a joint meeting to address the rising levels of pollution in Delhi on Saturday. Officers of the DPCC held presentations which clearly depict that Delhi is suffering from two kinds of pollution - One, which is Delhi’s own, i.e., sourced from within Delhi like vehicular emissions, construction site fumes, waste burning, etc. And two, the incoming pollution as a result of stubble burning from other States.”
“The severity of the pollution was quite high yesterday, compared to which today seems a bit of a relief. However, it has been estimated that the pollution levels are only going to escalate in the coming days. The Environment Department has issued orders regarding this today under the Environment Protection Act of 1986. The only exception will be made for institutions already in the process of conducting examinations. Post this, we will review the progress and make appropriate decisions. Third, all offices, corporations and autonomous agencies under the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCTD) of Delhi will remain shut till 17th November and all officers will be expected to work from home for the week,” it said.
Emergency services like health, police, PWD, DPCC, district administration and others were exempted. Rai said, “However, any institutions providing emergency services will be exempted from this order. This includes health and all related departments and services, police, jail, home guard, fire service, district administration, DPCC, Environment Department, Pay and Accounts Office, Electricity Department, PWD, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Water Supply and Sanitation, Public transport - air, railway, metro, bus. Additionally, the services supporting public transportation like cargo, ticketing, air flight, disaster management services, NIC, Municipal service, etc. will also be exempted.”