'Severe' season in Delhi: GRAP III in force as air quality plummets

GRAP III was activated in New Delhi as the air quality index continues to deteriorate significantly.

NEW DELHI: GRAP III kicked into action Friday as a precautionary measure, with the city's air quality index steadily moving towards 'severe' (AQI above 400). Average AQI was 382 at 4pm, against 369 the previous day, nudging CAQM to further GRAP. The move comes four days after the second stage of the graded pollution action plan was imposed. GRAP III includes a ban on major dust-generating construction and demolition work, closure of stone crushers and mining, restrictions on BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel cars in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density NCR districts, possible hybrid classes up to Class V, and 50% WFH in offices.

Areas throughout the city are already reporting severe air quality levels

While GRAP-III comes into force once the air quality turns severe or worse, many areas in the city are already recording severe levels, and AQI is set to become severe late Friday night or Saturday. The most polluted areas were Punjabi Bagh, with an AQI of 455, DTU 455, Jahangirpuri 449, Rohini 449, RK Puram 443, Mundka 438, North Campus 431, Najafgarh 430, and Vivek Vihar 430. Other areas that recorded severe air quality were: Bawana 428, Alipur 427, Sirifort 426, Sonia Vihar 428, Narela 425, Okhla Phase-2 425, Dwarka 425, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range 421, NSUIT 418, JLN Stadium 415, Patparganj 414, ITO 414, Pusa 410, JNU 410, Burari 404, Chandni Chowk 403, and Mathura Road 403. Restrictions imposed under GRAP I and II will also continue. Under GRAP-III, BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel cars will be barred in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density NCR districts, namely Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budha Nagar. Despite GRAP-II being enforced, besides restrictions put in place by Delhi govt since Nov 1 under its new winter pollution framework, more and more areas in the city have slipped to severe AQI. Under the framework that came into effect from Nov 1, private construction is banned from Nov 1 to Jan 31, with a blanket ban between Dec 10 and Jan 20. It also calls for a ban on the entry of non-Delhi-registered BS-IV or below vehicles. The contribution from stubble burning to the overall city's air quality, as per IITM, is expected to be around 13% against 14% a day earlier. Pollution monitoring agencies are expecting the pollution levels to become severe by Saturday. According to IITM's forecast, the share of pollution from stubble burning in neighbouring states has started to spike over the past week and has since been fluctuating around 13% to 20%, with decision support system's models expecting the share to drop. "The outlook for the subsequent 6 days: air quality is likely to be in the severe to very poor category," stated the air quality early warning system by IITM.