Centre revokes GRAP Stage-III curbs as air quality improves

Samad Hoque

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New Delhi, January 18

The Centre on Thursday revoked Stage-III measures of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in view of an improvement in the air quality in the national capital. The Capital clocked 318 on the air quality index (AQI) at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

With the revocation of the Stage-III curbs, construction and demolition activities will resume, and BS II petrol-run and BS IV diesel-run vehicles will return to the roads.

The sub-committee of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) met on Thursday to review the current air quality scenario in the region as well as the forecasts for meteorological conditions.

GRAP Stage-III was invoked on January 14 after the AQI soared to the ‘severe’ category (401-plus) in the national capital region (NCR).

The sub-committee noted that the air quality in Delhi has been progressively improving. The Capital logged an AQI of 316 at 2 pm, which is about 85 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-III measures (Delhi AQI 401–450).

“The forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) also do not indicate any significant deterioration, and there is a likelihood of the AQI improving and remaining in ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ categories in the next few days,” it said.

Measures under Stages I and II of the GRAP shall, however, remain in place, monitored and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR.

The agencies were directed by the sub-committee to keep a strict vigil and especially intensify measures under Stages I and II of GRAP in order to avoid the implementation of GRAP Stage-III measures by checking that the AQI does not slip into the ‘severe’ category.

Construction and demolition project sites and industrial units that had been issued specific closure orders on account of violations of and non-compliance with various statutory directions, rules and guidelines shall under no circumstances resume their operations without any specific order to this effect from the commission, it added.

The maximum and minimum temperatures were down by a degree from normal, stabilising at 18.6°C and 6.6°C, respectively. Dense fog in the morning led to several flight disruptions and delayed 18 train. According to the IMD, Lodhi and Safdarjung areas continued to experience the cold wave phenomenon as minimum temperatures dipped by 2.4°C and 4.1°C from normal.