air quality: No need to invoke GRAP’s stage 3 in Delhi-NCR for now: Centre’s air quality panel

The Centre‘ air quality panel on Friday said the ongoing anti-pollution actions under stages I and II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) will continue in Delhi-NCR and there is no need for invoking curbs under stage III at present. In view of the improvement in the air quality, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had on Monday directed authorities to revoke the curbs enforced in Delhi-NCR under stage three of GRAP, including a ban on construction and demolition activities, barring essential projects.

The sub-committee for invoking anti-pollution curbs under GRAP held a meeting on Wednesday to review the air quality situation and the progress of the actions implemented in the region.

The panel has decided that the ongoing actions under “stages 1 and 2 of GRAP shall continue and there does not seem a need to invoke Stage III of GRAP at this stage”, the CAQM said in a statement.

“According to the dynamic model and weather/meteorological forecast provided by the India Meteorological Department/ Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, the overall air quality is likely to fluctuate largely between ‘poor’ and the lower end of ‘very poor’ categories in the next few days. The predominant surface wind is predicted to be coming from the north/north-west direction,” it said.
Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 289 on Wednesday. There has been a slight dip in the air quality of Delhi but any major spike in pollution levels is unlikely in the coming days.

An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.