The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Control and Prevention) Authority on Thursday withdrew the emergency measures put in place in Delhi to bring down the alarming pollution levels. This included a fourfold increase in parking fees and a ban on the entry of trucks in the city and on construction works.
The direction comes as the pollution levels in Delhi saw a marginal drop on Wednesday, but remained a huge health hazard.
After Delhi woke up to a blanket of smog on November 7, the authority had also asked the Delhi Metro to cut fares during lean hours for at least 10 days and add coaches to its trains to reduce the pollutants choking the Capital.
The EPCA had ordered a complete closure of brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crushers across the National Capital Region till further notice. It had warned of a Rs-50,000 fine if road construction agencies were found violating dust pollution norms in the NCR.
The authority had also instructed Delhi and neighbouring states Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to strengthen their public transport system by introducing more buses. It directed the Delhi government to introduce the odd-even policy if pollution levels do not reduce.
Delhi and several parts of North India have been covered in a toxic smog since November 7, leaving the governments of the National Capital Region scrambling to bring in measures in the eleventh hour to bring down pollution levels. This had happened in 2016 as well.
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