According to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), owing to unfavourable meteorological and climatic conditions, the pollution levels of Delhi are only 'expected to increase further'.
As the air quality of the national capital city Delhi continues to exacerbate, the authorities on Thursday imposed a ban on all non-essential construction work and demolition work in the city. Moreover, the entry of light commercial vehicles and diesel trucks has also been banned in the national capital.
As a measure to keep the situation under control, the schools have also been instructed to switch to the online mode for the time being. It has been reported that the state governments in the Delhi-NCR region will likely take a decision to discontinue physical classes in schools for children up to class 5.
As a part of the stage III of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the below mentioned restrictions have been imposed in the national capital city.
The list of the banned activities include earthwork for excavation and filling, including boring and drilling work, all structural construction work, including fabrication and welding operations and demolition work.
Loading and unloading of construction materials anywhere within or outside the project sites are strictly prohibted as well.
The transfer of raw materials either manually or through conveyor belts, including fly ash and the movement of vehicles on unpaved roads also fall under the ambit of the restrictions.
According to the CAQM, owing to unfavourable meteorological and climatic conditions, the pollution levels of Delhi are only "expected to increase further".
Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 402 at 5 pm. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
According to the weather department, the national capital is likely to witness shallow fog in the next three days.