Alarm bells ring: CM Kejriwal chalks out plan to tackle smog after 7 days

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday held an emergency meeting to discuss the city's severe air pollution and announced a slew of measures, including shutting schools and stopping construction for a few days, to tackle the menace."Emergency measures are the need of the hour. Instead of politicizing the pollution issue, we need to solve it together," Kejriwal said at a press briefing after the meeting. "The base level of pollution was already very high. We have consulted experts and we are taking some emergency measures," the Aam Aadmi Party leader added.Even as he announced a number of steps the government is taking to deal with the worsening air quality of Delhi, Kejriwal urged the capital's residents to stay indoors as much as possible.Here are some of the important measures decided upon at the emergency meet to deal with the air pollution in Delhi:1. All Delhi schools will remain shut for the next 3 days.2. For the next 5 days, no construction and demolition work will take place in Delhi.3. All diesel generator sets have been banned for the next 10 days, except at hospitals and in emergencies.4. The Delhi government will supply power to unauthorized colonies which use diesel generators.5. The coal-based Badarpur power plant will be shut down for 10 days. There will be no fly ash transportation from the power plant.6. The Environment department will launch an app to monitor the burning of leaves.7. Vacuum cleaning of roads will start from November 10.8. Water sprinkling will start on all roads from tomorrow.9. People should stay at home as much as they can and they should try working from home.10. If need be, the odd-even traffic scheme will be brought back for a short while.Kejriwal also said that he will discuss with the Centre the possibility of engineering artificial rain in Delhi.Experts say the situation is expected to ease after Monday with dry north-westerly winds likely to reach Delhi, whose dismal air quality has been attributed to low wind speed and high humidity which has blocked dispersal of pollutants, IANS reported.