As air turns severe, schools shut till Nov 15
TOXIC Epca decides to extend ban on industrial activities till November 15, when pollution may reduce
GURUGRAM: Air quality in the city continued to plummet on Wednesday, touching 447 (severe) on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin. This is the highest Gurugram’s AQI since November 3, when it touched a season high of 486. Official forecasts on Wednesday predicted that air quality will continue to deteriorate on Thursday, possibly entering the ‘severe +’ category, prompting the Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (Epca) to direct the closure of all schools in Delhi-NCR till November 15.
“Keeping in mind the hazardous exposure to children, the CPCB task force has recommended, which Epca is directing, that all schools must remain shut for the next two days,” said Epca chief Bhure Lal, in an order issued on Wednesday.
At the task force’s recommendation, Epca has also decided to extend the ongoing ban on industrial activities till November 15, after which air quality is expected to improve to the upper end of the ‘very poor’ category, according to the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR.
Construction work, meanwhile, remains banned until further notice, by virtue of a Supreme Court directive. The CPCB has also “strongly advised people to avoid outdoor exposure and work from home, wherever feasible,” as per the minutes of Wednesday’s meeting.
Concentrations of PM2.5, the city’s most prominent pollutant, exceeded the 500ug/m3 mark at Vikas Sadan, which is the highest measure reflected by the city’s official air quality monitor. The average concentration of the past 24 hours, at 6pm, was 445ug/m3, more than seven times the national safe limit of 60ug/m3. Private monitors across the city also recorded emergency levels of particulate matter.
A monitor in Sector 54, for example, recorded a daily average AQI of 404 at 7pm, with PM2.5 at a daily average of 346ug/m3 and PM10 and a daily average of 394ug/m3. In South City 1, PM10 levels touched as much as 450ug/ m3 on Thursday morning. Higher levels were recorded in Gwal Pahari, where the daily average measure of PM2.5 was at 497ug/ m3 on Thursday evening, after having exceeded the 600ug/m3 earlier in the day.
A senior scientist at the CPCB’s air quality lab in Delhi said, “What we are seeing now is an exponential accumulation of pollutants, which will continue until wind speed picks up. This is not expected until November 15. Farm fires have also been detected across Punjab and Haryana, which are contributing between 18 to 25% of pollutants in Delhi-NCR.”
The state directorate of school education on Wednesday, ordered the closure of all government, private, and aided schools in Gurugram, Faridabad, Panipat, Sonepat and Jhajjar due to intense smog.
The directorate, in a letter to education officers and deputy commissioners of the districts, said that the administrations should ensure that no schools, till class 12, remain open till Friday as directed by the Epca.
It also asked the administrations to inform all schools about the closure.