New Delhi: National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi chief secretary to hold a meeting urgently with all concerned authorities today in connection with the extremely high toxic air levels.
The chief secretary has been told to file a status report by tomorrow.
Three days after Diwali, the capital’s air quality continued to be in the “severe” category despite experts predicting that it would improve to “very poor” by Wednesday.
Prolonged exposure to severe category air may affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases while very poor category may cause respiratory illness. Children, elderly and the sick are considered most vulnerable to the harmful effects of hazardous air.
The National Air Quality Index also reported air quality in Delhi at ‘severe’, with PM 2.5 being the prominent pollutant.
Pollution peaks in the national capital during Diwali as a hazardous mix of noxious gases and respirable pollutants hang very close to the surface due to low temperature and near-stagnant wind movement.
