E-Paper
What's allowed and what's not as GRAP-III imposed in Delhi after AQI soars to 429
The AQI surged as high as 464, prompting officials to provide guidelines aimed at reducing pollution and protecting public health.
With the air quality worsening each day and the Air Quality Index (AQI) breaching the 400-mark on Tuesday morning, the Delhi government implemented stage-III of its graded response action plan (GRAP).
Starting with immediate effect on Tuesday, it issued a list of do's and don'ts in the national capital to keep the soaring air quality index (AQI) in check.
Air quality in the national capital and its adjoining areas plummeted to into the ‘severe’ category for the first time this season, and the AQI rose from 362 on Monday to 429 (as of 11.30 am) on Tuesday.
According to data from central pollution control board (CPCB)'s Sameer app, 38 out of 39 active stations across Delhi-NCR recorded ‘severe’ AQI levels at around 11 am on Tuesday.
AQI levels at Mundka stood at 464, RK Puram and Mathura Road at 458, Nehru Nagar at 456, Sirifort at 454, ITO at 452, and Sri Aurobindo Marg at 421, at around 11.23 am according to the Sameer app.
What's allowed and what's banned under GRAP-III
- Non-essential construction and demolition activities are completely prohibited under GRAP-III. This includes work such as earth excavation, piling, laying of sewer lines and electric cables through open trench systems, and the operation of Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) batching plants.
- All private BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel LMVs (four-wheelers) in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Noida are also restricted.
- A ban has been issued on non-essential diesel-run BS-IV medium goods vehicles and on BS-IV and lower diesel light commercial vehicles registered outside Delhi, except those transporting essential goods or providing essential services.
- Usually when the GRAP-III is enforced, establishments are advised to ask employees to work from home or switch to hybrid arrangements to help reduce vehicle emissions.
- Besides, schools also usually switch to online classes and avoid asking students to travel amid alarming pollution levels. However, there has been no announcement on school closures in Delhi-NCR yet.
- Public projects that are considered essential, including railways, metro construction, airports, defence, sanitation, and healthcare, are exempt from the ban and allowed to continue. However, strict dust and waste management guidelines have to be followed.
An AQI between 100-200 is ‘moderate’ and causes breathing discomfort to people with diseases in their lungs, asthma or heart diseases, 201-300 is ‘poor’ and causes breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure, 301-400 is ‘very poor’ and causes respiratory illness on prolonged exposure, and 401-500 is ‘severe’ which affects healthy people and impacts those with existing diseases.
