Severe air causes Delhi-NCR to ban non-essential construction; primary schools in the capital are closed

When the air quality in the Delhi-NCR approached the emergency threshold on Thursday, the government moved quickly to mitigate the health-threatening pollution, closing primary schools and prohibiting non-essential construction work. The concentration of PM2.5, a fine particulate matter that can enter the respiratory system deeply and cause health issues, surpassed the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic meter by a factor of seven to eight at several locations across the Delhi-NCR region as a thick and odorous haze covered the skyline.

A numerical model-based system created by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune states that 25% of Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution on Thursday came from burning stubble. The Center’s pollution control panel issued an immediate ban on non-essential construction work, stone crushing, and mining in the area due to the alarming increase in air pollution levels. Additionally, there are restrictions on the use of four-wheelers with BS III gasoline and BS IV diesel in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar. Due to the increasing levels of pollution in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declared that all public and private elementary schools would be closed for the next two days. Gopal Rai, the minister of environment in Delhi, called an urgent meeting on Friday to assess the situation.

Due to extremely unfavorable meteorological and climatic conditions, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a statutory body tasked with creating strategies to combat pollution in the area, stated that pollution levels are only “expected to increase further.”