Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday urged the Central Pollution Control Board and a Supreme Court-mandated pollution control authority to shut the 11 coal-fired power plants operating within 300 kilometres of Delhi within a week.
He said the Delhi government has been making all efforts to bring pollution levels down, “but we become helpless when pollution from neighbouring states affects the city’s air quality”.
A layer of haze hung over Delhi and its neighbouring areas on Thursday and the air quality slipped to “very poor” levels. Delhi recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 312. The last time the air quality hit such a poor level was in February.
