In order to keep a check on the capital’s worsening air quality, the Centre’s air quality panel has imposed fresh restrictions on construction and demolition activities. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to ban all non-essential construction work in the region under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 407 at 4 pm on Sunday.
For this, the Sub-Committee for operationalization of the revised GRAP held a meeting on Sunday to review the air quality situation in Delhi. The GRAP Sub-Committee decided to implement GRAP Stage III of in the entire NCR in a move to prevent further deterioration of air quality. Moreover, the new restrictions are in addition to the restrictive actions mentioned in GRAP Stage I and II.
GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) is an emergency response action plan invoked with a view to curb the further deterioration of adverse air quality scenarios in Delhi and NCR.
However, essential projects concerning national security, defence, railways and metro rail, among others, are exempted from the restrictions.
An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
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