Polluted air shuts Delhi schools

Air quality index topped 400 on Friday, putting most districts of the capital territory in the ‘severe' or 'hazardous' category

Students arrive to attend classes at a school in Gurgaon on Friday amid heavy smog.: PTI picture

TT Special Correspondent   |   New Delhi   |   05.11.22 : Primary schools in New Delhi have been closed and outdoor activities for older children ordered stopped because the air in the national capital has become a severe risk to health.

Half of all Delhi government staff have been asked to work from home, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said on Saturday, adding that he had urged private firms to take similar steps.

The air quality index (AQI) topped 400 on Friday, putting most districts of the capital territory in the “severe” or “hazardous” category.

“In Delhi, primary schools will be closed tomorrow onwards till the situation improves. We are exploring the need of odd-even as well…. We are stopping outdoor activities for classes above 5th standard. Sports and outdoor activities will not be allowed,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

“Odd-even” refers to curbs on private vehicles under which vehicles with even registration numbers are allowed on the roads on certain days of the week and those with odd registration numbers on the remaining days.

On Thursday, the local authority in Noida had ordered all schools to conduct online classes for students up to Class VIII.

The decision to shut some schools came after concerned parents and environmentalists took to social media, and residents complained of discomfort in breathing and irritation in the eyes, nose and throat.

Healthy people can be affected, and those with existing health conditions are at greater risk when the AQI rises past 400, the Central Pollution Control Board warned.

At 4pm on Friday, Delhi’s average AQI was 447. Several skyscrapers were invisible in the smog.

According to data compiled by the Swiss group IQAir, New Delhi has been the world’s most polluted capital for the past four years.

As the smog made its annual return to the city, so did the winter blame game between Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP-led central government.

Delhi lieutenant governor Vinai Saxena slammed Punjab for the burning of paddy stubble in a letter to chief minister Bhagwant Mann of the AAP on Thursday.

In a news conference with Kejriwal, Mann said: “We deployed 1.2 lakh machines to tackle stubble, developed bio-energy plant, built an app among other targeted efforts for stubble management. We will solve the problem of stubble by November next year, take my word for it. The Centre should also cooperate and work on it; this concerns the whole of north India….”

“There is only a gap of 10-12 days between the rice and the wheat crop. There is no other way for the farmer to remove the stubble within that short a period, except use a matchstick and burn it down.”

Kejriwal tweeted a chart of air quality index readings of various cities and said” “See the pollution in north Indian towns. It’s not just Punjab and Delhi. (The) entire north India is suffering from severe pollution. Let’s stop the blame game.”

Environment minister Rai said: “Only CNG, petrol and electric vehicles will be allowed to enter Delhi…. In addition, we will write letters to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana urging them to ban entry into Delhi of any vehicles that are not connected to essential services.”