On NH24 on Thursday. The pollution in Delhi has plunged to 'severe' levels. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)Delhi Pollution Live Updates, November 4: In a slew of directives to tackle the air pollution crisis in the National Capital on Friday, the Delhi government announced that 50 per cent government employees will be directed to work-from-home and all primary schools will be shut. As the air quality plunged in north India, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Friday said stubble burning was not a political issue, and asked state governments to work together to curb it. Tomar’s statements came hours after Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab respectively, addressed the crisis in the national capital region and said this was “not the time for blame game and politics”.
With Delhi’s air quality worsening, a lawyer Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking urgent intervention in the matter. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit listed the matter for urgent hearing on November 10.
In other news, the State Election Commission is set to hold a press conference at 4 PM today, when it is likely to announce the dates for the municipal elections. The AAP and BJP government have been locked in a fierce political battle ahead of the polls.
That the capital experienced its first good air day this year in September says a lot about the pollution levels that have been taken as par for the course by its residents. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested a 24-year-old man for his alleged involvement in the well-publicised carjacking of a Fortuner SUV on the morning of October 29 in the Delhi Cantonment area.
The arrested accused, identified as Saurabh, is a member of the Prince Tewatia gang, according to police. Read more
As the air quality plunged in north India, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Friday said stubble burning was not a political issue, and asked state governments to work together to curb it.
Tomar’s statements came hours after Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab respectively, addressed the crisis in the national capital region and said this was “not the time for blame game and politics”.
“Despite the Centre providing funds and machines to states, rising stubble burning incidents is cause of concern,” Tomar said, suggesting the use of the PUSA decomposer, which has been effective in controlling stubble burning. Read more
The government has constituted a six-member committee to closely monitor the implementation of curbs and measures to control air pollution in the Capital, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said Friday.
Special task forces will also be formed to monitor pollution hotspots in the city.
The minister added that staggered timings will be released for functioning of markets and office complexes.
To curb pollution, the Delhi Government has decided to implement the recommendations suggested by CAQM. All petrol and diesel trucks,lorry and commercial vehicles except Essentials and CNG vehicles will not be allowed to enter Delhi.
--All type of construction and demolition activities such flyover, road repair etc banned in Delhi.
--Delhi government announces wfh, 50 percent staffs to work from home.... Similar advisory will be issued to private organisations
The BJP on Friday accused the Delhi government of registering “bogus” construction workers and siphoning off money meant for them for AAP’s party-related work. In a joint conference with party MP Manoj Tiwari, BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s intent and integrity was polluted. Patra termed it the biggest corruption case in India as far as construction workers were concerned. He said three NGOs working for construction workers alleged massive corruption in their registration through proxies. Read more.
Delhi's DG Prisons Sandeep Goyal has been transferred, according to news agency ANI. He will be replaced by Sanjay Beniwal.
The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed with Rs 25,000 costs a plea seeking to implead Twitter's new owner Elon Musk as party to a petition challenging suspension of a user's account for an alleged violation of its rules.
Justice Yashwant Varma termed the application to be "thoroughly misconceived". "This application is thoroughly misconceived. It cannot possibly be disputed that a corporate entity is thoroughly represented and therefore, there was no need to file such an application. Accordingly, it is dismissed with a costs of Rs 25,000," the judge said. At the outset, the court said "even we need entertainment" and asked the counsel for the petitioner if he was serious in prosecuting the application.
To this, advocate Raghav Awasthi, appearing for the petitioner, said his instructions were to press the application. He said Musk was not only the director but also holds substantial shares in Twitter and was a necessary party in the matter. (PTI)
Slamming the AAP government on Friday, the BJP alleged that 2 lakh out of the 9 lakh construction workers registered by the Delhi government were "fake". "Here, 65000 construction workers had only one mobile number & this is how the fraud took place," said BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra".
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Hitting out at the Arvind Kejriwal government on Friday, the BJP alleged that farm fires had spiked by 34 per cent under the AAP’s rule. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said that AAP National convenor and CM Kejriwal was an “enemy of Delhi”.
Addressing the pollution crisis in the National Capital, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the AAP government in Delhi was contemplating re-imposing the odd-even scheme.
Air pollution is a North India problem. AAP, Delhi Govt or Punjab govt are not solely responsible. Now not the time for blame game: CM Arvind Kejriwal
All primary schools have been shut in the National Capital from tomorrow onwards, CM Kejriwal announced during the press conference.
Speaking at the press conference, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal added: "Air pollution is a North India problem. AAP, Delhi Govt or Punjab govt are not solely responsible. Now not the time for blame game."
Holding a joint press conference with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the AAP government in Punjab was responsible for the excessive stubble burning that has led to a decline in air quality across NCR over the last few days. “Air pollution is a North India problem. AAP, Delhi Govt or Punjab govt are not solely responsible. Now not the time for blame game,” he said.
As Delhi’s air quality continues to worsen, a lawyer has approached the Supreme Court seeking urgent intervention. A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, has listed the matter for urgent hearing.With air quality in the National Capital Region slipping into hazardous levels, data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) showed that the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Friday continued to remain in the “severe” category. The data showed that the quality deteriorated significantly due to strong upper level (700-1000 m) wind blowing towards Delhi from stubble-burning areas.
The State Election Commission NCT of Delhi is set to hold a press conference at 4PM today, where it is likely to announce the dates for the municipal elections. The AAP and BJP government have been locked in a fierce political battle ahead of the upcoming municipal polls.
On account of rising air pollution in Delhi NCR, classes 1 to 8 will be conducted online in Gautam Buddh Nagar district until November 8, while classes 9 to 12 and higher educational institutions have been asked to operate online wherever possible, a notification by GautamBuddha Nagar DM Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj said Thursday.
Outdoor activities at schools are also banned until further notice, the press release added.
With the second round of undergraduate admissions at Delhi University coming to an end Thursday, around 64,000 students have been admitted across programmes and colleges.
During round one of the admissions, a total of 59,100 students had been admitted. During the second round of allotments, 9,439 of these candidates were “upgraded” to college-course combinations higher on the preference list because of vacancies. In addition to this, 5,797 new candidates had completed their admissions as of 7:30 pm on Thursday.
Candidates had up till midnight to pay their fees and complete admissions. Read more
The Delhi High Court Thursday upheld the life imprisonment awarded to three persons in an unusual case in which a minor was girl gang-raped when she sought help from passersby after being raped by a relative.
The case dates back to 2011 when the minor girl was taken to a place by her relative on the pretext of giving some gift and was raped. After the incident, the girl managed to escape and some men in a car offered her help and assured her to safely drop at her house.
However, they took the girl, then a student of class 10, to a jungle and gang-raped her. A trial court had awarded life term to the three men. The three men challenged their conviction and sentence before the high court, which dismissed their appeals and upheld the trial court's judgement. (PTI)
With Delhi's air quality index (AQI) a notch short of entering the "severe plus" category, a central panel on Thursday directed authorities to ban the plying of four-wheeled diesel light motor vehicles in Delhi and adjoining NCR districts as part of anti-pollution measures under the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
The entry of trucks into the capital, except those carrying essential goods or those running on CNG and electricity, has also been banned. Commercial diesel vehicles (medium and heavy goods vehicles), except those carrying essentials, will also not be allowed to ply in Delhi. Delhi’s air quality deteriorated once again to hit the ‘severe’ category Thursday morning with a 24-hour average AQI of 426 at 9 am.
However, BS-VI vehicles and those used for essential and emergency services are exempted, according to an order issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management. (CAQM) The order stated that the state government may take a call on the closure of educational institutions, non-emergency commercial activities and plying of vehicles on odd-even basis.Central and state governments may decide on permitting work from home.