"There is an emergency situation in Delhi. The situation is bad, particularly for children, patients, women and elderly," said Environment Minister Anil Dave.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday called for an emergency meeting to take stock on recent measures announced to combat the soaring pollution levels in the national capital.
As a blanket of haze continued to cover the city with pollution level remaining very high and breaching the safe limit by over 17 times at several places, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Environment Minister Anil Dave and sought Centre's urgent intervention to deal with the challenge.
Kejriwal likened the city to a "gas chamber" with main reason being smoke from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana and appealed to people to minimise use of vehicles.
Delhi is witnessing an "emergency situation" due to alarming pollution level, the Centre said, and has called a meeting of Environment Ministers of all neighbouring states on Monday to curb stubble burning by farmers which has made Delhi a 'gas chamber'.
"There is an emergency situation in Delhi. The situation is bad, particularly for children, patients, women and elderly. We need to take immediate steps to deal with the situation," Dave told reporters, adding he was also exploring the possbility to call a meeting of chief ministers of all neighbouring states on the issue.
On his part, Kejriwal appealed to people to restrict use of private vehicles and use public transport.
Dave said the situation has been "very alarming" and that there was a need to take short-term measures to deal with the situation immediately, adding he discussed with Kejriwal "emergency measures" including ways to contain dust pollution and crop burning.
"There are five reasons triggering air pollution that include use of firewood, coal, diesel, petrol and burning of agricultural waste. We have to find solution to address the problem
"We should imbibe self discipline in our routine life style. If I don't minimize use of my four cars and expect other people to use cycles, that should not be happen. We should collectively come under self regulation," he said.
Both Dave and Kejriwal were in agreement that shutting down schools was not the solution when asked about the decision of the civic bodies to keep schools run by it closed for a day in view of pollution.
Kejriwal pitched for providing alternatives and incentives to farmers so that they discard the traditional practise of burning farm stubbles.
Air Quality Index (AQI) of all the eight monitoring stations of Centre's SAFAR blinked red, indicating severe levels of pollution. CPCB stations had severe AQI as well.
The Delhi High Court had last year observed that living in Delhi was akin to living in a "gas chamber" as it directed the Centre and the city government to present comprehensive action plans to combat it.
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