Delhi AQI severe, curbs back on cars and construction

The Union government’s Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which has brought in the restrictions under phase III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), said in a statement that local pollution sources, including large-scale open burning, were also to blame.

Delhi has been gripped by cold conditions for two days.

The ban will cover construction and demolition activities, except for projects related to Railways, metro rail, airports, “projects of national importance”, hospitals, water supply, sanitation and linear public projects (including roads, flyovers, bridges, highways and pipelines).

The fine for violating the restriction on running BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers is Rs 20,000.
Delhi’s average air quality in November and December has been poorer than in previous years.

With the AQI touching the severe (400) or ‘severe +’ category (450+) several times in these two months, the CAQM had imposed GRAP restrictions multiple times, the latest being on December 22. This was revoked on January 1.

GRAP is a set of emergency measures implemented to prevent the deterioration of air quality in Delhi-NCR. Stage 1 of GRAP is activated when the AQI is in the ‘poor’ category (201 to 300). The second, third and fourth stages are activated when the AQI reaches the ‘very poor’ category (301 to 400), ‘severe’ category (401 to 450) and ‘severe +’ category (above 450), respectively.

According to the Early Warning System for Air Quality forecast, a slight improvement is expected over the next two days, but within the ‘severe’ category. Thereafter, there is a likelihood of the AQI improving — to the ‘very poor’ category.