Emergency meeting on Delhi air pollution, Bangladesh match in fear

There is no sign of the pollution situation in Delhi, the capital of India, getting under control, on the contrary, the level of pollution has increased. Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) was 460 on Sunday (November 5) morning. Today (Monday) morning that level reached 488. The worst situation is in Delhi’s RK Puram, Patparganj and New Moti Bagh areas.

In view of this, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going to hold a high-level meeting on Monday to find ways to reduce the level of pollution. The meeting was supposed to start from 12 noon. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will also attend the meeting.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh will take on the Lankans at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi at 2:40 PM Bangladesh time. But before that, air pollution has disrupted the practice of both teams. But before that, the air pollution in the Indian capital has become worse. Shakib Al Hasan’s team canceled practice last Friday due to the toxic air in Delhi. Sri Lanka also announced the same on Saturday.

Delhi’s air quality has been at ‘extremely appalling’ for five consecutive days. The situation has reached such a level that the people of Delhi are experiencing symptoms like shortness of breath, burning eyes. Environmentalists say that the situation that has arisen in Delhi is not only affecting people, but animals have started to be affected.

A veterinarian in the city said that he treated 10 birds with respiratory symptoms. The Delhi Municipal Corporation said that 517 monitoring teams have been formed to deal with the pollution situation. 1,119 officers have been deployed in different areas of the capital. Water is being poured on the road. Arrangements are being made to reduce smog with smog guns. Water is being diverted to areas where pollution has reached extreme levels.

The capital Delhi is covered in a thick blanket of pollution. Photo: Collected

But even after that the situation went from bad to worse and even very dire. Health experts are also expressing concern about this.

An AQI of 450 is considered to be ‘extremely severe’. The Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management has drafted some measures to curb pollution. It is called ‘Graded Response Action Plan’. The Center has ordered the implementation of the fourth phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb pollution in Delhi and its surrounding areas. The Center has directed the government and private offices, from now on 50 percent of the employees will work sitting in the office. The remaining 50 percent will work from home.

Besides, the government ordered closure of primary schools till November 10 as the pollution situation worsened. Earlier, all primary schools in the capital were ordered to remain closed only on November 3 and 4. However, it has been informed that there will be classes for the students of class 6 to 12. Delhi Education Minister Atishi Marlena said that an alternative system has been put in place to conduct those classes online.

Every time the finger of blame for pollution in Delhi is pointed at the practice of burning crop stubble. When the winter season comes, the work of burning the roots of crops starts in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh adjacent to Delhi. This time it was no different. But this time, these neighboring states of Delhi are very careful about burning the crops. But even after that, crop stubble burning is going on in some parts of the state.

Source: Anandabazar

Bangladesh Journal/RR