Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the city government on Sunday issued the necessary orders for the shutting of educational institutions under the Environment Protection Act of 1986. Schools, colleges, skill development centres and other educational institutions will remain closed till 20 November, with the exception of the ongoing exams.

He said construction and demolition projects had also been put on hold till 17 November to curb dust pollution. The Delhi government’s offices and those of autonomous agencies will also remain closed till 17 November.

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The major objective behind these emergency measures is to cut down on vehicular pollutants. An advisory has been issued to private offices to follow suit and help this initiative to have an effective impact on air pollution.

Talking about the Delhi government’s latest step towards fighting pollution, Gopal Rai informed, “Yesterday, under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Cabinet and officers held a joint meeting to address the rising levels of pollution in Delhi. Officers of the DPCC made presentations which clearly depicted that the city was suffering from two kinds of pollution — Delhi’s own sources like vehicular emissions, construction site fumes, waste burning, etc, and stubble burning in the neighbouring states.

The minister said, “The severity of pollution was quite high yesterday, but today there seems to be a bit of relief. However, it has been estimated that the pollution levels are only going to escalate in the coming days. Keeping this in mind, the Delhi government has decided that all schools, colleges, coaching institutes, skill development and training institutes and libraries will remain shut till 20 November.”

The Environment Minister continued, “However, any institution providing emergency services will be exempted from this order. This includes health and all related departments and services, police, jail, home guards, fire service, district administration, DPCC, Environment Department, Pay and Accounts Office, Electricity
Department, PWD, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Water Supply and Sanitation, public transport services like air, railways, Metro
trains and buses. Additionally, the services supporting public transportation like cargo, ticketing, air flights, disaster management services and municipal services will also be exempted.”