Delhi air quality improves; schools, educational institutions to reopen

Air pollution: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday announced that schools, colleges and educational institutions in the national capital will reopen from November 29 as the air quality in the national capital is improving.

Addressing the media after a high-level meeting with officials over air pollution situation in Delhi, Gopal Rai said, "We have decided to allow the entry of all CNG, electric vehicles into Delhi from November 27. The entry of all other vehicles to remain banned till December 3." Also read | GoDaddy hacked, data of 1.2 million WordPress users at risk "Schools, colleges and educational institutions will re-open from November 29 in Delhi," the minister added. Further, only CNG and electric vehicles are allowed to enter Delhi from November 27 and the rest remain banned till December 3. All govt offices will reopen from November 29. Staff has been advised to use public transport. Special buses would be deployed for them, added Gopal Rai. To tackle increasing air pollution levels in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 13 had announced a 'pollution lockdown' under which the schools were closed for physical classes for a week. Classes, however, continued through online mediums. The Delhi Government had, earlier on Monday, lifted the ban on construction and demolition activities in view of an improvement in the air quality. The air quality in the national capital significantly improved from the "very poor" to the "poor" category on Wednesday for the first time in the last 10 days, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR). The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 280 on Wednesday. As per the SAFAR, the PM 10 levels were recorded at 58 in the 'satisfactory' category and PM 2.5 levels were recorded at 38 in the 'satisfactory' category. Also read | Amid split rumours, Priyanka Chopra drops romantic comment on Nick Jonas’ latest post The air pollution level in the National Capital Region (NCR) fluctuated between "very poor" and "poor". Gurugram and Noida recorded AQI of 283 and 303 in the "poor" and "very poor" categories on Wednesday morning. According to the SAFAR bulletin, from November 27 onwards local surface winds are likely to increase which will result in improvement of air quality. The share of stubble burning to Delhi's PM2.5 is 3 per cent and the effective fire count is 770. -PTC News