Delhi's air quality panel withdrew the new limitations put in place three days ago as Delhi's air pollution levels somewhat improved on Sunday, moving out of the "very poor" category.
Gopal Rai, the Delhi Environment Minister, will preside over a high-level meeting today to discuss the new guidelines set forth by the air quality panel. Primary schools are also expected to be reopened, and the order requiring 50% of government employees to work from home will likely be revoked, according to Delhi government officials. The Delhi administration must decide whether to revoke the ban on working from home and reopen the elementary schools.
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It increased to 450 on Thursday, falling just short of the "severe plus" category, leading officials to implement the last round of anti-pollution regulations, including a ban on light motor vehicles powered by engines older than BS VI.
The Delhi government said on Friday that primary schools would be closed starting on Saturday and that 50% of its workers would work remotely, with private offices being recommended to do the same. This was due to the dangerously high levels of pollution.
Parents encouraged the government to take action to prevent learning losses for kids as the decision to reopen schools is scheduled to be made on Monday.
How long will the children have to deal with this uncertainty, wondered Aparajita Gautam, head of the Delhi Parents' Association.
"What will the parents do? I am ready to send my child to school if the air quality improves but instead of working to curb pollution now, the government should take year-long measures to reduce it. When the air quality has entered the severe category, we have demanded school closure," she said to news agency PTI.
Tanya Aggarwal, a lawyer and a mother, also inquired whether the government will revoke the school closure order.
“As the present AQI level of Delhi is around 339 which is about 111 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-IV actions (Delhi AQI > 450) and preventive/ mitigative/ restrictive actions under all stages up to Stage-IV are underway, there is a likelihood of sustaining the improvement in AQI”.
