Schools in 4 districts neighbouring Delhi to remain shut in Haryana

The Haryana government has ordered closure of all schools in Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, and Jhajjar districts adjoining Delhi due to air pollution.

The government also ordered a ban on all construction activities in the National Capital Region (NCR), except non-polluting activities such as plumbing, interior decoration, electrical work and carpentry.

In view of the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR, all schools in four NCR districts of Haryana adjoining Delhi, that is Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar, shall remain closed till further orders, said the order issued by the additional chief secretary of the state's Environment and Climate Change Department.

The Delhi government had on Thursday announced the closure of all schools in the national capital till further orders because of an increase in the air pollution levels.

According to the Haryana government order dated December 2, There shall also be a complete ban on all construction activities, except the non-polluting activities like plumbing works, interior decoration, electrical work and carpentry and those activities exclusively permitted by Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) for NCR and adjoining areas and it shall be strictly implemented in all 14 NCR districts of Haryana till further orders.

Besides, there shall be a complete ban on the operation of all the diesel generator (DG) sets, except for the emergency purposes permitted by CAQM in 14 NCR districts of Haryana, till the weather condition (air quality) improve.

The power department shall take all necessary and urgent steps to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply in NCR districts of Haryana to avoid use of DG sets by any consumer, even in case of an emergency, it said, adding these directions shall be enforced strictly by all departments and agencies concerned.

The 14 Haryana districts falling in NCR are Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Karnal, Rewari, Panipat, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Jind, Mahendergarh, and Nuh.

Earlier, authorities had ordered closure of schools in Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar from November 14-17 due to poor air quality.

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the states in NCR to implement the orders of the panel on air quality management to curb air pollution while ruing that some sections of the media have "portrayed" it as a "villain" which wants to close down schools here.

On Thursday, the apex court had said that nothing was happening on ground to control the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR, and directed the Centre and Delhi government to come out with suggestions to control air pollution within 24 hours.