Delhi's air remains poor; Environment min directs officials to be in 'war mode'

October 23, 2018 22:18

Delhi's air quality continued to be in the 'poor' category Tuesday, with the environment minister directing all officers and agencies to be in "war mode" to combat air pollution.

As parts of the Bhalswa landfill site continued to smoulder, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation announced a slew of measures that it will take for remediation of the over 60-metre high dump.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that people in the country can burst firecrackers from 8 pm to 10 pm only on Diwali and other festivals, permitting the sale and manufacture of low emission "green" firecrackers countrywide.

The Central Pollution Control Board recorded the city's overall AQI at 254 in the evening.

The air quality in the national capital had shown signs of improvement on Monday as it moved from 'very poor' to 'poor' category, but experts said it could deteriorate in the coming days due to toxic air coming out of a fire at the Bhalswa landfill site.

In Delhi, the Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research also reported an AQI in the 'poor' category.

"The environment minister directed all officers and agencies to be in war mode to combat air pollution," the environment department said in a statement.

He reviewed action plan of various stakeholders for implementing the Graded Response Action Plan mandated by the Supreme Court for combatting and mitigating air pollution in Delhi.

"The meeting was attended by the chief secretary, commissioners of the north, south and east corporations, chairman of New Delhi Municipal Council, secretary (environment), secretary (transport & power), special secretary (industries), chief engineer along with other senior officers," it said in a statement.

-- PTI

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