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Construction curbs likely to be eased in Delhi as air quality improves: Report
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Friday permitted construction works for selective sectors such as healthcare, railways, Metro, public utilities and national security, among others, to resume.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is expected to give more relaxations to construction and demolition activities in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) in wake of the air quality index (AQI) improving over the last few days, an official told news agency PTI on Sunday.
The CAQM on Friday stayed curbs on construction works across Delhi-NCR, allowing only the ones associated with healthcare, public utilities, railways, Metro, airports, national security, highways, roads, power transmission and defence, among others.
The commission also permitted offline classes in schools to resume in a phased manner. Physical classes for students of Class 6 and above were allowed to reopen on Saturday, while the same for those up to Class 5, will resume on December 27.
Classes have, however, been directed to be conducted in a hybrid nature with both online and offline teaching sessions.
Notably, schools in the national capital were scheduled to reopen on November 29, but environment minister Gopal Rai announced on December 2 that they will remain shut till further orders owing to the sharp rise in Delhi's AQI.
Delhi's air quality remained in the ‘poor’ category on Sunday with an overall AQI of 290, news agency ANI reported. However, as per the latest data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), several areas of the capital continue to have ‘very poor’ air quality. The AQI in Anand Vihar was at 328 at 3pm, in ITO at 308, in Mundka at 303, in Nehru Nagar at 317 and in Punjabi Bagh at 303, among others.
According to CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 falls in the ‘good’ category, between 51 and 100 in the ‘satisfactory’ category, between 101 and 200 in the ‘moderate’ category, between 201 and 300 in the ‘poor’ category, between 301 and 400 in the ‘very poor’ category, and between 401 and 500 in the ‘severe’ category.
