December 15, 2024 11:20 AM.
The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has revised the Graded Response Action Plan – GRAP for the entire NCR. Under the revised GRAP, certain targeted actions that were earlier under Stages III and IV have now been incorporated into Stages II and III.
Under the revised action plan, the Actions under Stage II deal with ‘Very Poor’ Air Quality with Delhi’s Air Quality Index, AQI ranging between 301 and 400. Stage III deals with ‘Severe’ Air Quality with AQI between 401 and 450. Stage IV deals with ‘Severe+’ Air Quality with AQI above 450.
The actions under Stage II will now include vacuum sweeping and water sprinkling of the identified roads on a daily basis especially at hotspots heavy traffic corridors along with proper disposal of collected dust at landfills. Besides, inter-state buses from NCR states, other than Electric Vehicles, CNG and BS-VI Diesel vehicles will not be allowed to enter the national capital.
Further, in stage three, the Delhi government as well as the state governments in NCR will have to mandatorily conduct classes in schools for children up to class V in a Hybrid mode. Under this stage, restrictions on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel 4-wheelers in Delhi and in the districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar will also be made. Lastly, under the Stage IV category, schools will have to mandatorily conduct hybrid classes for students studying from classes VI to IX and class XI as well.