The Centre’s pollution watchdog – the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) – on Monday revoked the GRAP Stage-III restrictions in Delhi and NCR. This comes on the back of improvement in the overall air quality of the Delhi-NCR in the past few days with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city clock at 294 on Monday.
While the commission revoked the restrictions under stage III, it has however said that construction sites and industrial units which have been issued specific closure orders on account of violations or non-compliances with various statutory directions under no circumstances shall resume their operations without any specific order.
The commission today reviewed the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR. It said the forecast by the central weather agency is not indicating any steep degradation in the overall air quality of Delhi-NCR in the next few days with AQI likely to stay in the ‘Poor’ category. Therefore, it is advisable to relax the restrictions and further roll back Stage III of the GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR, it said.
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.
The Ministry of Environment said that the overall AQI of Delhi has been progressively improving from the levels of 346 (‘very poor’) recorded on 11 November to 294 (‘poor’) clocked on 14th November 2022, which is about 100 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage III actions.
Actions under Stage-I to Stage-II of the action plan shall, however, remain invoked and be implemented, monitored, and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further to the ‘severe’ category, the ministry said. It also suggested some measures – under Stages I and II of GRAP – to be taken by all implementing agencies.
Mechanical, vacuum-based sweeping of roads to be carried out on a daily basis.
Ensure water sprinkling along with the use of dust suppressants regularly on roads to arrest road dust, especially at hotspots, heavy traffic corridors, vulnerable areas (before peak hours) and proper disposal of dust collected in designated sites/landfills.
Regular inspection and strict enforcement of dust control measures at Construction and Demolition (C&D) sites and enforcement of direction on the use of Ani-Smog guns.
Do not allow coal, and firewood including in Tandoors in Hotels, Restaurants, and open eateries.
Ensure hotels, restaurants and open eateries use only electricity and clean fuel gas-based appliances.
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