Air pollution: Junior schools shut, construction halted as GRAP III invoked in Delhi-NCR
With pollution levels being among the worst in the country, breaching the 400 mark for the second consecutive day, emergency response measures such as discontinuing physical classes for primary school students in entire Delhi-NCR, and curbing construction have been ordered.
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Classes for primary school students, in government and private schools, will have to shift online after the respective governments issue orders. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) Delhi’s air quality showed no sign of improvement Thursday defying meteorological forecasts, and plummeted further into the ‘severe’ category.
With pollution levels being among the worst in the country, breaching the 400 mark for the second consecutive day, emergency response measures such as discontinuing physical classes for primary school students in entire Delhi-NCR, and curbing construction have been ordered.
These are among measures undertaken as part of the invocation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) Stage III by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) and will come into effect from 8 am Friday.
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality recorded at 4 pm Thursday was 424 AQI, in the ‘severe’ category, slightly worse than 418 AQI reported Wednesday.
“Due to rising pollution levels, all primary schools in Delhi will be shifting to online classes, until further directions,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi posted on X.
Friday is a gazetted holiday and most schools will remain shut on Saturday as well.
All highly dust-generating construction and demolition activities except for certain projects related to defence, Metro, railways, airport and healthcare facilities, will be banned as part of the emergency measures.
Additionally, a ban will kick in for running BS III petrol and BS IV diesel-operated four-wheelers in Delhi and the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
According to the revised GRAP order, there will also be a ban on running diesel-operated Medium Goods Vehicles that are BS-III standard or below and are registered in Delhi. Diesel-operated LCVs that are BS III or below entering Delhi will also not be permitted. Further, inter-state buses from NCR states other than EVs/CNG/BS-VI diesel cannot enter Delhi, barring those that have All India Tourist Permit. Mining activities and stone crushers in Delhi and NCR will also stop.
GRAP Stage-III is invoked in advance when the AQI is forecast to sustain for longer periods in the severe category (AQI 401- 500), according to the revised order in September this year. Earlier, it was required to be invoked at least three days in advance of the AQI reaching the higher projected air quality levels.
A communication issued by the CAQM Thursday said, “AQI of Delhi started improving late night, which saw an episodic hike in AQI yesterday owing to highly adverse metrological and climate conditions. However, it remained stagnant since morning today and was hovering around the 425 mark, due to continued heavy fog and unfavourable meteorological conditions over the Indo Gangetic Plain including Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc.”
The Commission decided to invoke measures keeping in view the prevailing trend of air quality, it stated.
Forecasts from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology indicated the likelihood of the AQI of Delhi to remain in the higher end of the ‘Very Poor’ category in the coming days.
Moderate fog was observed at Delhi airport early morning, affecting flight operations. According to Flightradar24, an online portal that tracks flights around the world, Delhi airport saw 447 flights delayed in departure and 239 flights delayed in arrival.
Delhi airport officials said no flight was diverted.
Dense fog, the IMD said, is likely to prevail late night and early morning over northwest India for the next 2-3 days.
Here is what it means
Classes for primary school students, in government and private schools, will shift online after the respective governments issue orders.
Construction and demolition activities that generate dust have been banned. Exceptions to this are activities to build projects such as metro, railways and linear public projects like highways, roads and flyovers.
A restriction on running BS III petrol and BS IV diesel-operated four-wheelers in Delhi and the districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar are also part of the measures.
There is a ban on running diesel-operated Medium Goods Vehicles that are BS-III standard or below and are registered in Delhi. A ban will also be imposed on diesel-operated LCVs that are BS III or below entering
Inter-State buses from NCR states other than EVs/CNG/BS-VI diesel, cannot enter Delhi, barring those that have an All India Tourist Permit. Mining activities and stone crushers in Delhi as well as NCR will have to stop all activities.
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