New Delhi: Addressing a press conference on Thursday against the backdrop of increasing pollution in Delhi, CM Arvind Kejriwal along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann declared that the primary schools in the national capital shall remain closed effective from November 5. Further emphasizing the urgency of the situation, the AAP chief said that the center needs to take specific steps to save the entire of north India from pollution instead of playing the blame game.
"This is not the time for blame game and politics. We are closing down primary schools entirely until further notice, while sports activities for students above class 5 in schools will also be restrained," the Delhi CM said. Taking responsibility for the excessive stubble burning in the state of Punjab which is currently under AAP leader Bhagwant Mann's rule, Kejriwal said, "Punjab government is largely responsible for stubble burning. We take full responsibility for it. We have taken certain measures to control it, and we promise it will be significantly reduced in the state by next year."
"It is likely that more stubble burning will be practiced due to bumper paddy crop season in Punjab and the situations may worsen," he said, reassuring that a final solution to the problem will definitely be devised and executed by November next year. Giving more details of the measures taken so far, Kejriwal said, "There are 1.20 lakh machines to bury stubble in fields in Punjab. The village panchayats in the state have also passed resolutions not to burn stubble." He further said that a joint meeting of Chief Ministers along with expert opinions is the need of the hour.
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The Air Quality Index (AQI) continued to be in the 'severe' category meanwhile, as haze covered the Delhi-NCR skies further reducing the visibility on Friday morning. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the AQI deteriorated from 418 on Thursday night to 437 on Friday morning. This was the second consecutive day that the AQI in the national capital rose to the 'severe' category.
The concentration of both PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the environment was recorded under the 'severe' category at 437 and 418 respectively this morning. As per SAFAR, stubble burning contributed around 34 percent to Delhi's PM 2.5 concentration.
Meanwhile, the AQI of Delhi's neighboring cities of NOIDA jumped to 526 under the 'severe' category with PM 2.5 concentration at 500 plus and PM 10 concentration at 403 under the 'severe' category. Gurugram's AQI jumped to 504 under the 'very severe' category with PM 2.5 concentration at 500 plus and PM 10 concentration at 418. The AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 is 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 is 'moderate', 201 and 300 is 'poor', 301 and 400 is 'very poor', and 401 and 500 is 'severe'.
