Delhi to witness strict measures to control pollution in first 10 days of November

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) has agreed to the recommendations made by the CPCB for the first ten days of November when the air quality is likely to deteriorate further due to festival season and stubble burning in neighbouring states.

The recommendations included the closure of all construction activities that generate dust pollution between November 1 and 10.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)-led task force also recommended shutdown of coal and biomass-based industries, excluding thermal and waste-to-energy plants, from November 4 to 10, intensification of efforts by Transport Department to check polluting vehicles and controlling traffic congestion in Delhi-NCR between November 1 and 10.

The task force also recommended efforts to provide uninterrupted power supply in the NCR to avoid the requirement of operating diesel generator (DG) sets.

An EPCA member said they have agreed to the recommendations in view of the deteriorating air quality.

Delhi's air quality continued to remain in the very poor category Monday as a thick haze engulfed the city which is battling alarming levels of pollution.

An overall Air Quality Index of 367 was recorded which falls in the very poor category, according to data of pollution watchdog CPCB.

Authorities have attributed the deterioration of air quality to localised factors like construction activities and vehicular pollution as well as regional factors like pollution by stubble burning from neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

(With inputs from agencies.)