New Delhi [India], November 19 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Tuesday inspected the new metro coaches of the Phase-4 route at the Mukundpur depot near Majlis Park on Tuesday and highlighted that the six-car train will be part of the Magenta Line and remains the only metro system in India to operate driverless trains while offering high safety standards.
The Delhi Chief Minister also praised the rapid expansion of the Delhi Metro over the past decade, which has extended its reach to all corners of the city.
Speaking to ANI, Atishi said, “Today we are at the Delhi Metro depot in Mukundpur and it is a matter of great pride that the trains of Phase Four Metro, which is an ambitious expansion of 186 km of Metro, have started coming on the ground. So this is the first train at the Mukundpur depot. This is a six-car train and it will be used in the Magenta Line. So right now all of the testing is taking place.”
“It is a driverless train. Even now Delhi Metro is the only metro in the whole country in which driverless trains are running, whose safety is very high and I am happy that Delhi Metro has been expanding at a very fast pace for the last 10 years. It has reached every corner of Delhi,” said Atishi.
Atishi also spoke over the poor air quality in the national capital and said, “I would like to request that in the rest of the states of NCR, the truth is that GRAP is not implemented at all. The rest of the states in NCR, whether it is Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, should also implement GRAP and secondly, my request to the central government is that until the central government comes forward and does not stop stubble burning in the rest of the states, then there will be no solution to the fog that is looming over the entire North India.”
The air quality in the national capital remained in the the ‘severe plus’ category for the second consecutive day on Tuesday morning, with smog shrouding the city, reducing visibility and worsening air pollution to touch an alarmingly high level of poor AQI.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the national capital recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) at 488 as of 8 am, placing it in the ‘severe plus’ category.
At such high Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, the air is considered hazardous to health, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and people with respiratory or heart conditions.
With Delhi’s air quality once again on hazardous levels, health and climate experts have termed the situation a “public health emergency”, while calling for phasing out of fossil fuels and adopting clean energy solutions.
The capital’s air quality index (AQI) has remained in the “severe” category for days, with PM2.5 concentrations surging past 400 mg/m3 — far beyond the World Health Organization’s (WHO) safe limit of 15 mg/m3 for 24-hour exposure.
In response, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) activated Stage-IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), imposing restrictions like bans on truck entry and a halt to public construction projects.
However, health experts argue that such measures are only temporary fixes for a problem that demands deeper, more systemic solutions.
Experts have attributed the spike in air pollution levels in Delhi to a reduction in temperature that has led to atmospheric stability.
This restricts the dispersion of pollutants. There has also been a surge in fire events over the past two days, contributing to a substantial rise in PM pollution. (ANI)
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