The government has decided to take necessary measures to tackle the air emergency in Delhi.

1. The Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed a high-level meeting to discuss the issue of deteriorating air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

The Principal Secretary to Prime Minister reviewed the grave situation of severe air pollution in Delhi, it’s adjoining NCR region and other parts of North India on Sunday. This is the first of its kind emergency intervention that has taken place this season with unprecedented air pollution which hovered over 625 AQI in over all Delhi on Sunday and hitting the 999 mark at parts of the national capital like Bawana. The capital woke up to thick layers of smog and near-zero visibility that forced diversion of many flights to Delhi airport on Sunday.

2. The senior officials from the States of Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, joined the meeting through video conferencing.

P.K. Mishra, on Sunday, reviewed at a high-level meeting, the situation arising out of severe air pollution. Senior officials from the States of Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi – the three states most affected, joined the meeting through video conferencing.

3. The Cabinet Secretary will be monitoring the situation with these states on a daily basis.

The Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Goba will monitor the situation with these States on a daily basis and instruct necessary actions, to facilitate better coordination. Pollution levels in Delhi and satellite towns shot up again on Sunday morning, with the air quality bordering the ‘severe plus’ category at several places.

4. Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi have been asked to monitor the situation in various districts of their respective states round the clock.

The meeting was held to tackle the menace of air pollution. It also reviewed the situation arising out of stubble burning, construction activities, burning of wastes, industrial and vehicular pollution.

About 300 teams are in the field in Delhi to reduce air pollution, necessary machinery for this work has been distributed in the states. The main focus is on seven industrial clusters and major traffic corridors in the NCR.

The Principal Secretary to PM Modi had earlier reviewed the situation on October 24.

Interestingly, the much-needed move came on a day the Aam Aadmi Party held a press conference demanding an answer from the Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in “next one hour” on when he intends to convene an emergency meeting of state environment ministers of North Indian states.

This move also comes in the backdrop of Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh writing to PM on Saturday, asking him to intervene.

Earlier on Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Central government to take immediate steps to provide relief from the pollution and assured full support in all its initiatives.

The National capital and its adjoining areas have been covered in a thick blanket of smog due to rising pollution from the past few weeks. The situation is such that public health emergency has also been issued by EPCA in the wake of the dipping air quality.

Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal, who has been lately slamming neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana over the rise in pollution in Delhi said, “Pollution has reached unbearable levels across North India. Delhi government has taken many steps. Delhiites have made many sacrifices. Delhi suffering for no fault of theirs.

The rising air-pollution has created a lot of panic among people.

Schools in Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad due to rising pollution

All government and private schools up till Class 12 in Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad will remain closed on November 4 and 5 in the wake of a spike in the pollution level, officials said on Sunday.

The air quality in the cities adjoining Delhi has worsened since Friday and Saturday.

32 flights diverted from Delhi airport due to low visibility caused by pollution

Pollution caused a major disruption at Delhi airport on Sunday as 32 flights were diverted to other airports due to heavy smog, officials said.

The flights were diverted to Amritsar, Jaipur, Mumbai and Lucknow airports.