Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has scheduled a high-level meeting to address the city’s escalating air pollution problem. Gopal Rai, the environment minister for Delhi, as well as representatives from all relevant departments will be present at the meeting. The national capital is currently struggling with catastrophic air pollution, which coincides with the meeting. On Monday morning, Delhi’s air remained extremely polluted for the fifth day in a row, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) still falling under the “severe” category. In the nation’s capital, the overall AQI was 488.
The national capital’s worst-affected neighborhoods include New Moti Bagh (488), Patparganj (471), ITO (402), and RK Puram (466). With the national capital’s air pollution levels rising, the Delhi government has decided to keep all schools up to class 5 closed until November 10. Although they are not required to close, schools serving grades 6 through 12 are free to offer online instruction if they so choose.
Delhi remained shrouded in an oppressive layer of toxic smog today, which caused medical professionals to express concern over the rising number of respiratory and ocular illnesses affecting the elderly and children. In several places throughout Delhi-NCR, the level of tiny PM2.5 particles, which can get deeply into the lungs and lead to health issues, has increased in the past few days to seven or eight times the government-mandated safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic meter. Compared to the WHO’s safe limit of 5 micrograms per cubic meter, this was 80–100 times higher.
In Delhi and the neighboring cities, where the air quality has remained in the “severe plus” category, the Center has implemented the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) at its highest level. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has developed a series of air pollution control measures known as the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). There are four phases in the GRAP, with Stage IV being the most serious. When the Air Quality Index (AQI) stays above 450, or in the “severe plus” category, Stage IV is triggered.
