Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday announced that all schools and other educational institutions in the national capital would remain closed till further orders.

He told media persons that this was one of the 10-point list of decisions taken at a high-level held for implementing the decisions taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management.

Rai informed that the Delhi government had also imposed a ban on construction and demolition activities and ordered work from home in Delhi government departments till November 21 in view of the air pollution crisis faced by the national capital.

He spoke about the introduction of 1000 private CNG buses on the road to strengthen the public transport system in addition to approaching the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to reconsider its directions of seating-only arrangement in buses and Metro trains.

The minister said the Delhi Police and the Transport Department had been instructed to stop the entry of trucks in Delhi, barring essential services.

The police has been asked to take strict action against 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles and any industrial unit found running or emitting pollutants. Guidelines have been issued to implement all the decisions with immediate effect.

He reiterated the announcement earlier made for a second phase of the “Red light on, gaadi off” campaign.

Rai said, “The Delhi government has taken some emergency measures after the recent joint meeting presided over by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to curb air pollution in the city. Under this, all construction and demolition activities had been halted till 17 November. And hence we held a meeting with different departments of the government and took some crucial decisions building on previous initiatives and the directions given by the Commission for Air Quality
Management in the joint meeting.”

He elaborated, “The decisions taken include banning of all construction and demolition activities further till 21 November. Two, extension of 100 per cent work from home in all Delhi government offices. Three, all schools, colleges, institutes, libraries and training centres will remain closed till further orders. Four, barring essential services, commercial vehicles will not be allowed to enter Delhi. Five, to encourage public transport in Delhi, 1000 private CNG buses will be hired. Six, so far Covid-19 norms permit only sitting in both Metro trains and buses which restricts capacity. The Delhi Metro and the DTC have both written letters to the DDMA to reconsider this position as the Metro sees a large percentage of commuters standing and travelling.”

The minister continued, “Seven, a list of all 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi has been handed over to the police by the Transport Department, following which the police will take the necessary action. Eight, the initiative of checking pollution under control (PUC) certificates at petrol pumps will be reinforced. Nine, in addition to the current 372 water tankers that are operating throughout Delhi, the fire brigade’s water tankers will be deployed at 13 hot spots to increase the spraying capacity where pollution levels are relatively higher. Ten, instructions have been given to the police to form a traffic police special task force for monitoring traffic congestion to curb pollution and to ensure smoother travel.”