Make you own parking arrangements: Delhi Police to Truck Unions

New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Delhi Traffic Police on Thursday issued an advisory to the Truck Unions to make arrangements "at their own level" for parking their trucks outside Delhi borders till November 21.

The advisory comes in the wake of a ban on the entry of trucks carrying non-essential items in the city by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM). "Truck unions are advised to make adequate arrangement at their own level for proper parking/halting of their trucks outside Delhi borders at suitable places like warehouses, transport hubs, etc. till November 21, 2021 or further orders of the CAQM or GNCT of Delhi as the case may be," Special Commissioner of Police, Traffic Manish Kumar Agrawal said.

The senior official also requested the police authorities of neighbouring NCR towns and cities to make adequate arrangements for diversion of such trucks which are not supposed to enter Delhi to avoid congestion at border entry points. On Wednesday evening, trucks were being checked at the Gurugram-Delhi border. Only those trucks that were carrying essential items were allowed to enter the city.

The CAQM, an agency under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), on Tuesday held an emergency meeting wherein it was decided to shut down all industries that are running on non-gas fuels for all NCR states. No entry of trucks in Delhi till November 21, except those carrying essential goods; no diesel or petrol vehicles more than 15 years to run on Delhi roads and no plying of visibly polluting vehicles with stricter checks about PUC certificate.

It also included deploying adequate number of buses/public transport; deploying anti-smog guns, water sprinklers and augmentation of dust suppressants thrice a day; penalty on persons/organisations stacking construction and demolition waste on roads, roadsides and a total ban on DG sets as per GRAP (graded response action plan, already in place since a month), the meeting decided.

While hearing a petition on Monday, the Supreme Court had reprimanded the Centre and the states, especially Delhi government, for their failure to reign in air pollution that had reached hazardous levels last week and is currently hovering on 'severe' and a 'very poor' level.

Every year around Diwali time and coinciding with the kharif crop harvesting in northwest India, air pollution levels peak sky high. Amongst the many reasons, burning of stubble by farmers in the region and the meteorological factors add to the existing air pollution that is prevalent almost round the year.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the national capital at 9 a. m. stood at 362. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', then 401 and between 500 is considered 'severe'.

The level of PM 2.5 and 10 pollutants stood at 200 and 316, respectively. According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality over Delhi-NCT is likely to improve marginally but remain in the 'very poor' category on November 18 and 19. The outlook for subsequent five days: The air quality is likely to remain in the 'Very Poor' category and improve significantly from November 21 owing to relatively strong winds. PM2.5 to be the predominant pollutant.