Delhi primary schools to be closed from Saturday due to pollution: Kejriwal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Nov, 2022 10:46 AM
New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Amid increasing pollution levels in Delhi, all primary schools in the national capital will be closed from Saturday onwards until the air quality improves, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday.
He made the announcement while addressing a joint presser here with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann.
Kejriwal also said that outdoor activities for all classes above class 5 will also be suspended.
He however, sought the Centre's leadership role to help curb the pollution which he termed as a "problem of the entire North India".
"The Central government can no longer lag behind. The Centre will have to lead it. The air quality situation is worsening from Bhiwandi in Rajasthan to Bettiah and Motihari in Bihar. It is the problem of entire North India. For this, we have to sit together and talk to find out the solution," Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, schools in Noida have also decided to start online classes due to the deteriorating air quality.
As per orders of the District Collector, classes 1 to 8 of all schools will function in the online mode till November 8.
"As far as possible, classes 9 to 12 should also function in online mode and, until the next order, outdoor activities in all schools are prohibited," read the order.
High drama was witnessed on Thursday after 125 of 179 international passengers, who arrived at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport Rajasansi, near here, from Italy, in an Air India flight tested positive on arrival. The Covid passengers were asked to quarantine in local hospital as per the guidelines of the government.
On Wednesday, The Prime Minister's rally in Ferozepur had to be cancelled due to a security lapse after some protesters blocked a route and forced his convoy to spend about 20 minutes on a flyover. The Prime Minister was enroute the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala when the incident happened.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
