Delhi air pollution: Lt Governor orders ban on civil construction works, entry of trucks in capital

Authorities in Delhi on Wednesday ordered an immediate halt on civil construction works and banned the entry of trucks, except those carrying essential commodities, in the city as the EPCA announced that pollution levels have hit ‘severe plus’.

The decisions were approved by Lt Governor Anil Baijal in a meeting which was also attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and EPCA (Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority) member Sunita Narain among a host of senior officials.

A decision on whether or not to implement the odd-even car-rationing scheme will be taken on Thursday, sources present in the meeting said.

During the meeting, the Supreme Court-appointed EPCA, which is empowered to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), said it has decided to ramp up the plan to ‘severe plus’ in view of the prevailing smog episode.

“Emergency meeting on pollution with @ArvindKejriwal. Measures approved include ban on entry of trucks (except carrying essentials), ban on civil construction, school holidays till weekend, hike in parking fees & higher frequency of metro & buses,” the LG office tweeted.

On Tuesday, the EPCA had directed authorities to implement measures under the GRAP’s ‘severe’ category, including hiking parking fees and introducing differential pricing in public transport.