Delhi pollution: Metro parking rates to be hiked four times from Thursday

The Delhi Metro parking rates will be increased four times the prevalent rates from tomorrow onwards, in a bid to discourage use of private vehicles owing to ongoing weather condition.

The order was passed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday in a high level meeting with all the stakeholder departments and agencies, called in view of severe air pollution in national capital.

Beside, Delhi Metro, Baijal also directed the Municipal Corporations, DDA to enhance parking fees by four times.

The Lieutenant Governor also ordered to stop entry of truck traffic and all civil construction activities in the national capital till further orders.

"We stopped entry of truck traffic into Delhi (except essential commodities) till further orders. We also asked to stop all civil construction activities in Delhi till further orders," Baijal said.

DPCC, SDMs, Municipal Corporations and Industries Department were also directed to strictly enforce ban on use of electricity generator sets with exceptions as defined by DPCC for essential services.

A thick layer of smog canopied the national capital earlier this morning leading to hazardous pollution levels.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent a letter to chief ministers of neighbouring Punjab and Haryana states, urging them to work jointly to resolve the air pollution issue.