CISF issues 9,000 masks to jawans on duty

New Delhi: With the air quality in Delhi getting worse, the CISF on Tuesday ordered issuance of over 9,000 face masks for its personnel deployed to guard the IGI Airport, the Delhi Metro and other government ministries and installations here.

A senior officer of the paramilitary force said CISF Director General (DG) O P Singh has ordered for the issuance of the masks so that the men and women of the force out in the open, could better combat the severe toxic smog.

“While 2,000 protective face masks are being issued immediately, 7,000 more will be sent to all the units in Delhi in the next few hours,” he said. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a paramilitary force under the Union home ministry, is tasked to guard the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, the Delhi Metro and a number of government departments and ministries in the national capital region.

A blanket of thick haze enveloped Delhi on Tuesday morning, as pollution levels breached the permissible standards by multiple times. The rapid fall in air quality and visibility began on Monday evening itself as moisture combined with pollutants shrouded the city in a thick cover of haze.

By 10 am on Tuesday , the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded “severe” air quality, meaning the intensity of pollution was extreme. The force had undertaken a similar measure last year, too, in November when a toxic smog engulfed Delhi.