NEW DELHI: Trucks and diesel buses can now enter the capital, BS III diesel and BS IV petrol cars can drive again and construction and demolition activities can resume after the Commission for Air Quality Management removed the restrictions imposed under stages III and IV of the Graded Response Action Plan on Thursday.
Track the pollution level in your cityThe decision was taken in the wake of consistent improvement in air quality and a review in the Supreme Court on Thursday. However, GRAP stage I and II restriction will continue.
CAQM had imposed Stage III restrictions on Nov 14 when AQI hit 424 and Stage IV on Nov 17 with AQI at 441. On Nov 18, when the AQI was 494 — the most polluted day of the season — the Supreme Court upheld the imposition of GRAP Stage IV. The court reviewed the situation on Dec 2 and directed a further review on Dec 5.
On Thursday, CAQM said in a statement that while the Supreme Court had directed the operation of GRAP Stage IV even if AQI dropped below 450, it had, based on the air quality data placed before it, permitted the commission to revoke Stage IV "but not to go below Stage II of GRAP for the present". It added that the GRAP sub-committee held a meeting to review the meteorological situations and forecasts for the region and noted AQI had continuously improved since Nov 24, and on Thursday, was 165 or moderate, "which is about 135 AQI points below the thresholds for invoking Stage II (AQI 301-400)".
CAQM explained, "The air quality forecasts by IMD/IITM also do not indicate much degradation in the overall air quality of Delhi-NCR in the coming days. Therefore, keeping in view the prevailing trend of air quality and forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by IMD/IITM and also the disruptive nature of restrictive actions under Stages IV and III of GRAP impacting a large number of stakeholders and the public at large, the sub-committee on GRAP unanimously decides to revoke stages III and IV of GRAP in the entire NCR with immediate effect." It said all implementing agencies would keep a strict vigil and especially intensify measures under stages I and II of GRAP.
Despite the higher states being revoked, keeping in view the unfavourable winter season and in order to ensure that AQI did not dip, CAQM requested people to strictly adhere to the citizen charter on pollution.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the city's air quality improved further and continued in the ‘moderate' zone, with none of the air monitoring stations reporting ‘very poor' reading. AQI, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 161 at 11am, which rose marginally to 165 by 3pm and 163 at 6pm.
North-westerly winds reaching over 20 kmph helped improve the air quality over the past 24 hours. The average AQI on Thursday was 165 against 178 a day earlier, both ‘moderate'. The city has seen the air improving from ‘poor' to ‘moderate' for over two days. On Thursday, none of the areas of the city fell in the ‘very poor' category, though a few did record pollution levels at the ‘poor' AQI levels.
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Kushagra Dixit writes on environmental issues, wildlife conservat...
Read MoreKushagra Dixit writes on environmental issues, wildlife conservation, climate change, agriculture, human rights, and scientific research. His investigative coverage encompasses river contamination with emphasis on the Yamuna, air pollution, urban waste and their collective effects on public wellbeing.
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