Seeing the rise in the pollution levels in and around the country's capital city New Delhi, the Haryana Government has asked its deputy commissioners (DCs) to make an assessment of the situation in their districts and take a call on closing schools, as per PTI reports.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) for some districts in Haryana has turned severe, including Gurugram, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, and Hisar. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

Schools to be declared closed?

The Directorate of School Education (DSE) has ordered all the DCs to come to a decision regarding the closure of schools or the holding of classes in the online mode in all government and private schools.

A letter was released Sunday, November 5 by the DSE, that read "The government has decided that the deputy commissioners shall assess the prevailing situation in their respective districts in view of the severe AQI levels and implementation of GRAP-4 in Delhi and NCR and may decide on closure/holding of classes in online mode in private and government schools, primary, elementary and secondary, in the interest of the health and safety of the students as per the need."

As per the letter necessary measures will be carried out separately for concerned districts. Pollution levels in Delhi-NCR on Monday morning, November 6, were recorded around seven to eight times above the government-prescribed safe limit, as a toxic haze prevailed over these regions for the seventh consecutive day.