New Delhi. The air in the country’s capital Delhi has become extremely dangerous due to pollution. Compared to the last two days, a decrease in the AQI has been observed today, that is, on Wednesday. But the level is still in the serious category. Meanwhile, now the Delhi government has decided to work from home in government offices. Under this, 50 per cent of Delhi government employees will work from home. In this regard there will be a meeting of officials at the Secretariat on Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
In the face of rising pollution, the Supreme Court has already ordered closure of schools and strict implementation of Group 4 restrictions. It has been decided to conduct online classes till the 12th in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Along with this, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also decided to conduct online classes as a precautionary measure.
The Delhi government has changed the timings of government offices. Since only 50 per cent of the employees will go to the office, MCD offices will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. At the same time, Delhi government offices will open from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm. Efforts are being made to reduce the effect of pollution due to the difference in opening and closing hours of offices.
Meteorologist Dr Anand Sharma says working from home and closing schools and universities will not immediately control pollution, but will definitely help reduce it. Not only this, doctors have termed the current level of pollution as extremely dangerous to health and have advised people not to step out of their homes. Children and the elderly are especially asked to avoid this. At the same time, doctors recommend using an N-95 mask when leaving the house. In such a situation, the big benefit of working from home and conducting online classes will be that people will be able to avoid direct contact with pollution to some extent.
Apart from this, when people work from home, the number of cars and bikes on the roads will definitely reduce. This will stop smoke emanating from vehicles and reduce the amount of dangerous gases emitted by vehicles, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and soluble organic compounds that dissolve in the air. With this, the air in urban areas can definitely be kept clean to some extent and it will also have an impact on smog.
Level 421 was recorded in Delhi this morning. There were 494 on Monday and 500 on Tuesday. Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change department at Skymet Weather, said that due to dense fog in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, as well as weak northwesterly winds, pollutants have been trapped in the air. He said that due to the drop in temperature, cold winds are blowing, so the pollution is getting closer to the surface. If wind speeds do not increase, there is no chance of significant improvement in the next two to three days. However, rain is expected this weekend and may help reduce pollution levels.
