New Delhi: A week after Diwali, pollution levels in Delhi-NCR region and nearby areas shot up again on Sunday morning, with the air quality bordering on the “severe plus” category at several places. Pollution also led to a major disruption at Delhi airport as 37 flights were diverted to other airports due to heavy smog. At one point, the city’s Air Quality Index shot up to 625 at around 10 am, the highest this year.
Declaring a public health emergency, Delhi’s AAP government has already ordered closure of schools till Tuesday. Schools in neighbouring Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad will also remain shut till Tuesday.
In order to bring down the pollution levels, the AAP government is implementing the third edition of the 12-day “odd-even” car rationing scheme in Delhi from Monday.
The scheme will not be implemented on Sunday, November 10, and the restrictions will also apply to the vehicles with the registration numbers of other states.
As per the road-rationing scheme, private diesel, petrol and CNG-run cars will remain off the roads for six days if their number plates end with an even number and vehicles having a number plate ending in an odd number will be off the roads for five days.
Like previous editions, all women and two-wheelers, which form the bulk of all vehicles in Delhi, will be exempt from the scheme. CNG-run private vehicles too have been exempted.
Cars with children in school uniform and those involved in medical emergencies have also been exempted.
Asked how law enforcement agencies will deal with parents coming back after dropping children or going to pick them up in the afternoon, a senior official said: “They will be let off only on the basis of trust.”
He said cars driven or occupied by differently-abled people have also been exempted.
With farmers still defying the ban on stubble burning in the neighbouring states, a blanket of haze which has engulfed Punjab and Haryana has also extended to Delhi.
The city’s air quality is likely to stay “severe” due to calm winds, that are unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants, according to government air quality monitor Safar.
Top officials review health emergency
With a public health emergency declared in the national capital and regions surrounding it due to severe air pollution, the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday asked the chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana to monitor the situation in districts under their jurisdiction on a 24x7 basis.
Official sources said principal secretary to PM, P.K. Mishra, reviewed the situation arising out of the severe air pollution in the national capital region and other parts of north India. Senior officials joined the meeting through video conferencing.
