New Delhi, Oct 30 (KNN) Concerned over rising level of air pollution in Delhi, authorities have issued closure directions to 113 industries which have not converted to Piped Natural Gas (PNG).

Of those 113 units, 67 industrial units are located in Bawana and Narela industrial areas.

In a meeting chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, he was informed that 1,368 show cause notices and 417 closure directions have been issued against polluting units by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

"It was further informed that closure directions have been issued to 113 industries which have not converted to PNG," the LG office said in a statement. 

The meeting was attended by Environment Minister Imran Hussain, Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) chairman Bhure Lal and other senior officials. 

Besides, DPCC officials informed Baijal that in order to combat the air pollution, the committee has deputed "environment marshals" for night patrolling in Bawana, Narela, Mundka, Nangloi, Punjabi Bagh, Dwarka, Anand Vihar, Bhalaswa SLF and Ghazipur SLF.

Taking a serious note of the issues, LG has directed concerned authorities to deploy more environmental marshals keeping in mind emergent air pollution condition. 

In the meeting, the EPCA chairman also presented photographs of violations in terms of open burning and dumping of rubber and plastic waste and dust pollution that was observed during the site visits at Nangloi, Dwarka, Tikri Kalan, Mundka, Peeragarhi, Kamruddin Nagar, Hiran Kudna and Ghewra areas among others. 

Amidst all these, Delhi’s air quality has worsened a lot with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 348.