In the view of the heavy smog that is choking the national capital, Schools running under the three municipal corporations of Delhi will be closed on Saturday.
Around 10 lakh students who are enrolled in the MCD schools will be affected by the decision.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar said on Friday that what a terrible future we are giving to our children as it castigated the Centre and AAP government for shifting blame and not taking steps to control the air pollution level in Delhi.
The NGT, terming the situation akin to that of an emergency, observed that the Central Government, Delhi government and other authorities were not bothered about the rising air pollution level in the national capital, but they are shifting the blame on each other.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) pressed alarm buttons to highlight one of the worst cases of smog in the national capital on Thursday.
As per the CSE report that the post-Diwali peak of pollution is higher than the Diwali peak, as the levels of PM 2.5 have increased by 62.7 per cent on 2nd November as compared to that on Diwali. On 2nd November, the levels of PM 2.5 were 9.4 times the standard.
Government of Delhi told the NGT bench that rise in air pollution was due to burning of crop residues in the neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
NGT bench said that it is not just the crop burning. There is no crop burning in Delhi. According to you, crop burning is in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana but there is no wind nowadays, so the smoke can not come here from these states.
The National Green Tribunal also issued notices to the Secretaries of Environment and Urban Development of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab and directed them to remain present before it on the next date of hearing on 8th November.
