Ban on night-time construction to be extended till Nov 2

NEW DELHI: A CPCB-LED anti-pollution task force on Wednesday recommended extending the ban on night-time construction in Delhi-ncr till November 2 and asked Punjab and Haryana to take immediate stringent action to curb stubble burning.

At a meeting here, the ‘Task Force on Graded Response Action Plan’ also recommended that coal-based industries, barring power plants, in satellite towns of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Sonepat and Bahadurgarh be also shut till November 2. In Delhi, industries which have not shifted to piped natural gas, should remain closed during the period, read the minutes of the meeting.

The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control)

Authority had banned construction and operation of hot mix plants and stone crushers from 6 pm to 6 am from October 26 and 30. The ban had come on the recommendation of the task force.

CPCB Member-secretary Prashant Gargava said air quality is likely to remain in the “severe” category until Thursday.

“A high number of stubble burning cases have been reported from Punjab and Haryana which is delineated to have contributed around 25 percent to Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration on Wednesday,” he said.

IMD scientist V K Soni said there were clouds over Delhi due to a cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

Northwesterly winds that bring smoke from stubble burning from Haryana and Punjab and low surface wind speed led to a rise in pollution levels, he said.