Shut all NCR schools, colleges till further orders, says air panel, bans entry of trucks, shuts down 6 of 11 TPPs

New Delhi: After being pulled up by the Supreme Court for not having taken enough emergency measures to safeguard people of the NCR from the dangerous air pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR on Tuesday directed that all schools, colleges and educational institutes in the NCR should remain closed until further notice.

Significantly, earlier, only Delhi and four NCR districts of Haryana had shut schools but that was only till the end of this week. Now, the schools will be shut and online education will be continued till further orders from the CAQM.

The Commission listed out a slew of emergency measures for Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to take in their NCR districts, after a joint meeting with them on express directions of the Supreme Court. In Monday's hearing the court had declared that stubble burning was not contributing much to Delhi's air pollution and directed authorities to consider steps against pollution from vehicles, industries and dust.

Of the directions listed out by the CAQM, the key ones include the complete shutting down of six of the 11 thermal power plants within 300 km of the Capital till November 30, the banning of all trucks's entry (excepting essential services) to Delhi till November 21, shutting down all industries in NCR that do not run on approved fuel.

On shutting down the thermal plants, which has been a bone of contention among the states for a while now, the Commission said that the Union Power Ministry has assured that whatever power supply needs to be augmented due to this, will be done by drawing energy from plants operating beyond a 300 km radius of the Capital.

On industries, the CAQM reiterated that any industry in the NCR found using unapproved fuel must be shut down immediately, adding, "All industries in NCR having gas connectivity shall be run only on gas as a fuel failing which Industries concerned shall be closed."

The Commission went on to direct all NCR states to ensure that wherever an Industry in NCR has an available gas connection, such industries must be immediately shifted to gas as fuel. It has also asked the concerned states to furnish a detailed timeline for identifying such industries and converting them into gas-fueled plants.

As far as directions on curbing vehicular pollution go, other than banning the entry of trucks into Delhi till November 30, the CAQM has asked all concerned states to step up enforcement activities, asking them to ensure that any petrol or diesel vehicle older than 10 or 15 years must be taken off the road.

But more importantly, the CAQM has in no uncertain terms directed the Delhi government to procure as many CNG buses as required and deploy them on roads "at the earliest".

Other enforcement activities for vehicular pollution as directed by the Commission, include, forming teams to check PUC certificates and taking visibly polluting vehicles off the roads.

Coming to dust pollution emanating from construction and demolition sites across the NCR, the CAQM reiterated the ban on all such activities (except a few exempt ones) till November 21, adding that all concerned authorities must do whatever necessary to augment the required number of mechanised road sweeping machines and water sprinkling tankers. It added that authorities may also consider using fire trucks to augment machinery for this purpose.

This comes after the Supreme Court, specifically, sought information on this aspect of dust pollution control measures.

The CAQM has directed authorities in the NCR to conduct intensive drives, form enough enforcement teams and impose hefty fines on those found violating the norms. However, while the Commission has for a year been pushing for a self-assessment portal where all construction projects must register for monitoring of dust control norms, it has not mentioned anything in relation to that in the directions.

So far, only Delhi and UP have set up these web portals, with Rajasthan and Haryana dragging their feet on it, as reported recently by Millennium Post.

Moreover, the CAQM also directed that all usage of diesel generator sets be banned in the NCR and that all concerned states enforce this with utmost seriousness.

In addition to this, the Commission has urged all concerned state governments to mandatorily allow work from home for 50 per cent of staff in the NCR. It has also asked the state governments to "encourage" private employers to allow the same for 50 per cent of their respective workforces.

Directing that the orders must be complied with strictly, the CAWM sought a compliance report from the concerned Chief Secretaries on this matter within November 22.