Delhi’s air is so toxic that primary schools had to be closed
#News Bureau November 14,2024
Delhi’s air is bad. Very bad. So much so that schools have had to be closed. Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day on Thursday and due to this, all classes for students up to class five in all schools of Delhi-NCR were shifted to online mode. Classes will run like this till further orders.
This decision regarding primary schools was taken after restrictions were imposed in Delhi-NCR under Phase 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan i.e. GRAP. These measures under Phase 3 of GRAP include a ban on construction and demolition activities and a ban on the entry of some vehicles into Delhi.
The order will come into effect from 8 am on Friday. Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality recorded at 4 pm on Thursday was 424 AQI. It is in the ‘severe’ category. Despite the deteriorating air, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai had said earlier in the day on Thursday that GRAP-3 would not be implemented.
He had said, “For the last two days, the AQI in Delhi has gone above 400 for the first time this season. Many people are wondering how the AQI, which was in the ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ category since October 14, suddenly went to the ‘severe’ category.”
The minister said, ‘Meteorologists have said that the temperature in Delhi has dropped due to snowfall in the mountains. Due to this, dry weather conditions prevail in the morning and evening in entire North India.’
At 9 am on Thursday, Delhi’s AQI was in the ‘severe’ category at 428. A day earlier on Wednesday, the city had also recorded the worst AQI in the country.
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What does GRAP-3 mean?
Classes for primary school students in government and private schools will have to shift online after orders are issued by the respective governments. Dust-generating construction and demolition activities will remain banned. Exceptions are construction activities of public projects such as metro, railway and highways, roads and flyovers. A ban on four-wheelers running on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel in Delhi and Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts is also part of the measures.
Medium goods vehicles running on BS-III standard or below diesel registered in Delhi will also be banned. LCVs running on BS III or below diesel will also be banned. Apart from EVs/CNG/BS-VI diesel, inter-state buses coming from NCR states cannot enter Delhi. Mining activities and stone crushers in Delhi and NCR will have to stop all activities.
AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘bad’, between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very bad’ and between 401 and 500 it is considered ‘severe’. Air quality is measured on the scale of PM2.5. PM2.5 is one of the major factors of pollution. PM2.5 is directly related to AQI. AQI detects ‘PM 2.5’, ‘PM 10’, sulfur dioxide and other pollution particles present in the air. PM i.e. particulate matter are very small particles present in the atmosphere which you cannot see with ordinary eyes. ‘PM10’ are thick particles. But they are very dangerous for health. Sometimes these particles even prove fatal.
