Primary Schools Closed Until Friday Due to Delhi Pollution
Today, Delhi Minister Atishi announced that primary schools will remain closed till November 10 because of the increased air pollution situation in Delhi. In Delhi, schools have been given the option of shifting to online classes for students of grades 6-12.
Atishi posted on X and said, “ As pollution levels continue to increase in Delhi, Primary schools will stay closed till 10th November. Schools are being given the option of shifting to online classes for 6-12 grades.
In previous days, schools for students up to 5 will remain closed till 2 November, on the announcement of the Delhi government. Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal had announced through social media that the temporary closure of schools was due to checking the air quality index. From class nursery to class 5, teachers conduct online classes since schools were instructed to discontinue offline from 3 November to 4 November, according to an official order by the MCD.
On Sunday, Delhi Environment Minister, Gopal Rai told India Today that the government’s focus on this situation is to rigidly break construction work, and vehicles entering from inside Delhi, prime because of increased pollution, execute a ban on BS3 petrol and BS4 diesel vehicles, control garbage, and biomass burning.”
They also said that “ people should choose public transport instead of private vehicles, and yesterday, we requested the Union environment Minister that the rules of GRAP should be accomplished strictly even in the NCR. The Commission for Air Quality Management announced the order for diesel buses was not followed by people. In Delhi, NCR, our strive is to rigorously follow these rules, in a teamwork with the Central government, since the BJP is in power in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. We are trying to make sure that they are also concentrating on handling this.”
According to the data issued by SAFAR-India, the air quality in the Lodhi Road area was recorded at 385 ( very poor) on the other side, the Delhi University area was recorded at 456 (Severe). Noida recorded a Severe category with an AQI of 466, and Gurugram recorded an AQI of 392, under the Very Poor air quality category.
Delhi AIM doctors said that AQI should be less than 50 for a healthy person, but these days the AQI has crossed 400, which can be dangerous for those suffering from lung-related diseases and even increases the risk of lung cancer.
Due to the dangerous air in Delhi, the Centre has already authorized stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Many reductions are in place to control pollution. In Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Gurugram, and Faridabad, a break on unnecessary construction work, mining, and stone crushing, and also a restriction on plying of BS 3 petrol and BS 4 diesel four-wheelers.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has taken several ways to control the increasing air pollution in Delhi, adding Mechanical Road Sweepers (MRS) in time with GPS tracking for wet sweeping, trying anti-smog guns or mist sprayers, and arranging 18,000 water tanks or trolleys to shower water on trees and shrubs along the main roads of the National capital.
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