Page 41 - Air Pollution

Primary schools in Delhi shut till Nov 10 amid rising pollution levels

All primary schools in the national capital will remain shut till November 10 in view of rising pollution levels in the city, Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced on Sunday. For classes 6 to 12, schools have the option of teaching online. As pollution levels continue to remain high, primary schools in Delhi will stay closed till November 10. For Grade 6-12, schools are being given the option of shifting to online classes, Atishi said on X. A toxic haze lingered over Delhi for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday as pollution levels once again reached the severe plus category due to unfavourable wind conditions, particularly calm winds during the night. The air quality index deteriorated from 415 at 4 pm on Saturday to 460 at 7 am on Sunday. Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that all government and private primary schools in Delhi will remain closed on November 3 and November 4, in view of rising pollution levels. Under the Centre's air pollution control pl

Delhi's AQI in 'severe' category, Gopal Rai urges Centre to convene meeting

Gurugram also joined the list of cities as the AQI dipped to the 'severe' category at 404

Poor air quality affects mental development of children, say health experts

The health experts of Safdarjung Hospital, one of the biggest hospitals in Delhi, said that for healthy lungs, the AQI must remain below 60

CTI writes to PM Modi; flags issue of decline in biz due to Delhi pollution

CTI chairperson Brijesh Goyal said business is declining despite the festive season due to pollution. The central government is requested to take strict and concrete steps against air pollution

Delhi air pollution: Several areas in national capital in 'severe' category

The air quality in several areas of Delhi was recorded in the 'severe' category on Saturday as a thick toxic haze lingered over the city for the fifth consecutive day. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city's maximum temperature stood at 29.5 degree Celsius, a notch below the season's average. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 16.6 degree Celsius, one notch above the normal. The humidity oscillated between 88 per cent and 72 per cent, the IMD said. The air quality index (AQI) at many places in the National Capital Region (NCR) crossed the 450 mark. The national capital recorded an AQI of 433 at 7 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The AQI at Anand Vihar was 488. It was 487 at Shadipur, 474 at Wazirpur, 465 at Punjabi Bag, 454 at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, 463 at Bawana, 448 at Okhla and 459 at Rohini, the CPCB data showed. In Delhi-NCR, the AQI in Greater Noida stood at 498 at 7 pm. It was 408 at Ghaziabad, 441 at .

Noida enforcing Grap compliance, penalties worth Rs 48 lakh issued: CEO

Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M on Saturday said his department is enforcing compliance of GRAP III guidelines and non-essential construction has been banned, stressing that penal action is being taken against those violating the anti-pollution norms. So far, the Noida Authority has issued penalties worth Rs 48 lakh on offenders in line with the guidelines of the GRAP, implemented by the Centre's anti-pollution body Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the NCR. Accompanied by District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, Lokesh said the local authority is taking various measures to control dust in Noida. The two were participating in the launch of the first-of-its-kind workshop of the traditional South Indian medical system "Varmam" here organised by the Vision Mission Foundation. We have already started a campaign to clean main roads, arterial and sub-arterial roads. A schedule has been fixed for it and senior managers have been told to complete the cleaning work as per the ...

Ban entry of vehicles non-compliant with BS-VI norms: Delhi govt to Centre

The overall air quality in Delhi continued to remain in the 'severe' category for the third straight day on Saturday morning, as per the SAFAR-India

Haryana minister slams Punjab govt over stubble burning; AAP hits back

Haryana Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Dalal on Saturday slammed the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab over the stubble-burning incidents in the state, prompting a sharp reaction from the Aam Aadmi Party. In his post on X, Dalal shared statistics of farm fires in Punjab and Haryana over the last three days. "We have demanded water from (Arvind) Kejriwal ji and Bhagwant Mann ji, not smoke of paddy stubble, Dalal wrote in Hindi. According to the data shared by the Haryana agriculture and farmers' welfare minister, Punjab witnessed 1,921, 1,668 and 1,551 farm fire incidents on November 1, 2 and 3 while stubble burning incidents in Haryana were 99, 48 and 28 on the three days. Reacting to Dalal's statement, the AAP accused him of "spreading lies". "Twenty out of the 52 most polluted districts in the country are in Haryana and even then the Khattar government is playing politics and blaming Punjab," Punjab AAP unit spokesperson Neel Garg said. The Mann government in Punjab provided

Due to Delhi's people, govt's hard work, we had 200 good air days: AAP

Priyanka Kakkar also took a dig at the Khattar-led-BJP govt in Haryana and said that the state was not being monitored in the context of air quality

MCD deploys 517 surveillance teams to combat air pollution in Delhi

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has taken a number of steps to combat air pollution in the city, as part of its Winter Action Plan (WAP).The WAP includes a number of measures to reduce dust pollution, open burning, and C & D waste violations.The Public Work Department has provided 60 Anti-Smog guns (ASGs) to assist MCD in combatting dust pollution in Hotspot areas."To implement the Winter Action Plan (WAP) MCD has constituted 517 Surveillance Teams constituting 1119 officers to check the open burning, illegal C & D waste dumping, checking of C & D sites and dust on roads under its jurisdiction," read the MCD release.Zonal Officers have been directed to strictly implement the revised GRAP guidelines issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).MCD has deployed 52 Mechanical Road Sweepers to carry out sweeping on PWD roads. Their frequency and timings have been increased as per the various stages of the GRAP.225 water sprinklers including 30 mobile ...

Delhi AQI improves marginally to 413; haze persists, health concerns rise

Friday's 24-hour average AQI (468) was the worst since the previous high of 471 recorded on November 12, 2021

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Air pollution: Rs 24.30-lakh fine imposed on 39 GRAP violations in Noida

As many as 39 violations of GRAP III were recorded in Noida and penalties worth Rs 24.30 lakh were imposed on offenders, including real estate developers, on Friday, officials said. As many as 26 challans were issued by the Noida authority, while 13 cases were recorded by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (Noida office). The air quality index (AQI) in Noida was recorded at 428 (severe) at 4 pm on Friday. The Noida authority said in a statement it imposed penalties worth Rs 13.80 lakh on 26 entities flouting GRAP guidelines. The authority said its 14 teams are daily inspecting construction sites, roads and open spaces to ensure compliance of the GRAP rules. Additionally, the pollution control board, imposed fines of Rs 10.50 lakh on 13 entities, including a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on a real estate developer, UPPCB's Regional Officer Utsav Sharma said. Meanwhile, the Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Association (NOFAA) demanded an odd-even scheme for vehicles to curb ...

GRAP III invoked, anti-smog guns deployed to fight against pollution

Invoking stage III of pollution control plan, deploying anti-smog guns and re-launching the 'Red light on, Gaadi off' campaign are among the measures taken by the Delhi government and other agencies with the city's air quality entering the 'severe' category, officials said. According to a Delhi government official, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 3 has been implemented in the national capital with a complete ban on construction or demolition activities. The Centre's pollution control panel invoked the GRAP III on Thursday, directing a halt on non-essential construction work, stone crushing and mining in Delhi-NCR. Under this stage, restrictions are also imposed on the operation of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar. The Delhi administration, which has stepped up measures to tackle the pollution menace, has deployed anti-smog guns in several places such as Anand Vihar, Kashmiri Gate ISBT, ITO, Pusa

Air pollution situation extremely worrisome: Delhi LG calls meeting with CM

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena Friday said the air pollution situation in the city is "extremely worrying" and called a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Environment Minister Gopal Rai at Raj Niwas. In a series of posts on X, Saxena appealed to people to remain indoors and not to expose themselves and especially children and elderly to the hazardous ambient conditions. The LG has also cancelled his public engagements at Yogmaya Mandir and Urs of Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. "The situation arising out of air pollution in the City is extremely worrying. I have asked Hon'ble CM & Hon'ble Minister (Environment) for a meeting at Raj Niwas at 06:00 PM today, to take stock of the situation," he posted on "I appeal to the people to remain indoors as much as possible and to not expose themselves- especially children & elderly to hazardous ambient conditions wherein AQI has reportedly crossed 800 at places," he said in another post. Delhi's air quality plummeted to the .

Gopal Rai urges union environment minister to address pollution problem

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai called upon his Union counterpart on Friday to become more active in addressing the air pollution problem, saying it's not just the national capital, but the entire north India that is breathing polluted air. Rai pointed out that the air pollution issue is not confined to Delhi alone, and the situation is the same across north India. He said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party is blaming Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the air pollution problem in Delhi, but he is not responsible for the poor air quality in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana." At a press conference held here, he appealed to the Union environment minister to become more proactive, saying, "It doesn't seem like there's a Union Environment Ministry in Delhi." Rai said while he was taking all possible steps to address the problem, "No one knows what the environment ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are doing". Delhi's air quality plummeted to the "severe plus" category on Friday morn

Delhi-NCR air pollution today, 3 Nov: Government bans construction work

The air quality of Delhi NCR continues to worsen, with AQI at several places reaching alarming levels. Authorities imposed a ban on construction work and restrictions on diesel and petrol vehicles

Gopal Rai blames outsiders for Delhi pollution, says govt cannot control it

The Environment Minister said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi is working on a war footing to curb the pollution level

Haryana targets to reduce stubble burning by 50%: Dy Commmssioner Jind

Raza further said that 95% of paddy harvesting was already over and the stubble burning instances would get reduced

Congress seeks total revamp of Air Pollution Act amid rising AQI levels

The Congress on Friday voiced concern over rising air pollution in the country and called for a total revamp of the Air Pollution Act and air quality standards to make them stringent and effective. The demand came amid rising air pollution levels in the national capital and other parts of the country. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said The Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act came into being in 1981. Thereafter, ambient air quality standards were announced in April 1994 and later revised in October 1998, he noted. In November 2009, after a thorough review by IIT Kanpur and other institutions a more stringent and wide-ranging National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) was put into effect. This covered 12 pollutants considered very detrimental to public health, he said, while sharing the press note that accompanied the implementation of NAAQS which reveals the thinking for the significant shift that took place then. "It is now time for a revisit and a total reva