Delhi Air Pollution: EPCA demands 4 times hike in parking fee and lower metro fares
November 07, 2017To tackle air pollution crisis in Delhi-NCR, Supreme Court recommended that the parking fee should be raised four times. The Environment Pollution- Prevention and Control Authority(EPCA) mentioned that Delhi is facing a “crisis-situation”, which is likely to persist for next few days.
In order to ensure people use public transport, EPCA has instructed Delhi metro to lower fares during off-peak hours for at least 10 days. EPCA has also urged Delhi metro to introduce more coaches and frequent services. Further, it has also directed road construction agencies will be fined with Rs. 50,000 for violating dust pollution norms in Delhi- NCR. Also, the body has the Delhi-government to start preparing for odd-even to deal with the pollution issues. If pollution aggravates it may also ban all construction activities. These measures also include complete closure of brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crushers across the region till further notice. Pollution levels has breached permissible limits by multiple times. The air quality is termed as “severe”.
A Sudhakar, secretary of Central Pollution Control Board smoke-laden air from Punjab and Haryana and moisture-heavy winds from the eastern region had combined forming a thick-haze blanket layer around the city.This has tremendously increased the pollution levels in Delhi-NCR. Due to this even a lot of schools are shut in Delhi for tomorrow.