As air quality remains ‘severe’, primary schools to remain shut in Delhi from November 5

As Delhi continued to reel under “severe” level of air pollution on Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced that there will be no classes for students in primary section from Saturday. 

“Primary schools will be closed from tomorrow in Delhi. We are thinking about implementing odd-even too. Outdoor activities of classes of fifth grade and above will be stopped,” Mr. Kejriwal said while addressing a joint press conference with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. 

Reiterating that air pollution is not just Delhi’s issue, he said that it’s an issue of entire North India. 

Also read: Farm fires’ share in Delhi’s pollution 38%, highest this season

“Many cities (in North India) have severe air pollution. AAP alone or Kejriwal or governments of Delhi and Punjab alone is not responsible for this. Central government has to take steps to reduce pollution in North India,” he said. 

“There won’t be any solution by doing politics over it. We accept that stubble is burnt in Punjab. But farmers are not responsible for this. Farmers want solutions. We and our government is responsible for this,” he said. 

He said that it has been six months since the AAP government has been formed in Punjab and termed it a “short time”. 

“Many steps have been taken and I believe that by next year, the incidents of stubble burning will come down,” he said. 

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said, “farmers also do not want to burn stubble. We have to solve this issue together. We have taken a lot of efforts. Some were successful, some were not successful.”