Gurugram: Schools to reopen today even as IMD forecasts ‘very poor’ air

For the next five days, the air quality is likely to remain in the very poor category, said the Met department

Taking a cue from neighbouring Delhi, which decided to reopen schools from coming Monday, the district administration of Gurugram said all schools and educational institutions will open from Friday onwards with strict compliance to Covid appropriate behaviour.

The Supreme Court had ordered for the shutting of schools after pollution levels spiked to ‘severe’ levels. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The decision to reopen schools and educational institution comes despite the Supreme Court reimposing the ban on construction activities in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), while allowing some ancillary non-polluting works like plumbing and electrical fitting. Previously, the Supreme Court had ordered for the shutting of schools and a ban on construction activities for around a week after pollution levels spiked to ‘severe’ levels.

Meanwhile, according to the air quality index (AQI) bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board, Gurugram was in the ‘very poor’ zone on Thursday with an AQI reading of 334. The monitoring station in Vikas Sadan recorded an AQI of 329, Sector 51 monitoring station recorded AQI 374, TERI Gram recorded AQI 293 while at Gwal Pahari, the recording was 246.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday there will be mostly calm and slow winds on Friday, which are unfavourable for the effective dispersion of pollutants. “The air quality is likely to be in the upper end of the very poor category on Friday and Saturday. For the next five days, the air quality is likely to remain in the very poor category. Gradual improvement is likely from Saturday,” said the IMD in its forecast.

IMD recorded a maximum temperature of 26 degrees Celsius on Thursday and a minimum of 9.4°C.

Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality expert, said declining temperature and low wind speed will ensure that pollutants do not get dispersed and the air quality remains in the ‘very poor’ category in the city for next few days. “We are expecting things to improve slightly in December when it rains,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board said that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, it had reimposed the ban on construction and demolition activities to curb air pollution in Gururgam and adjoining NCR districts. The district pollution authorities also directed 48 industries to use only clean fuel as only industries using piped natural gas are allowed to operate.

They also said they have imposed environment compensation penalty of ₹12.25 lakh against those found violating Grap (graded response action plan) guidelines.

“We have imposed penalty on NHAI and its contractor for pollution on Dwarka Expressway. Three construction sites in Udyog Vihar and one in Sohna were also penalised. Penalties were also slapped on those using diesel generator sets. Strict action is being taken against violators; We have also asked government agencies to follow norms, else penalties will be levied on them,” said Kuldip Singh, regional officer, HSPCB, north.

S Narayanan, member secretary, HSPCB, said that all directions given by the Supreme Court are being implemented in the NCR districts. “The construction activities are banned. The non-polluting activities, such as plumbing work, interior decoration, electrical work and carpentry, are allowed to continue,” he said.