NEW DELHI: The city’s air quality worsened to ‘very poor’ on Wednesday morning because of mist, smog and low wind speed, prompting CAQM to impose Grap-3 restrictions with immediate effect, reports Kushagra Dixit. Grap-3 bans construction activities and plying of BS-3 diesel and BS-4 petrol cars across Delhi-NCR.
The air quality index (AQI), on a scale of 0 to 500, was measured at 349 at 11 am, which further worsened to 360 at 3 pm and 379 at 6 pm, with many areas, including Bawana, Anand Vihar, Okhla, Punjabi Bagh, Rohini, Vivek Vihar and Wazirpur, badly hit. The average AQI in the city was 365, worsening from 276 a day earlier. The forecast suggests AQI will hover within ‘very poor’ range in the coming days.
The minimum temperature rose to 6.4°C, two notches below normal, from 5.6 a day earlier. The maximum was recorded at 25.5, three notches above normal. IMD predicts temperatures to rise further by 2-3°C over the next few days.
As the air quality began to dip, the CAQM called for a meeting to review the situation. As per the Supreme Court’s order, the CAQM is supposed to impose measures under GRAP-III when the AQI crosses the 350 mark and GRAP-IV when the AQI goes beyond 400.
“Keeping in view the prevailing trend of air quality, and in an effort to prevent further deterioration of air quality in the region, the Sub-Committee today has taken the call to invoke all actions as envisaged under Stage-III of the extant schedule of GRAP, with immediate effect, in the entire NCR. This is in addition to the actions under Stages I & II of the extant schedule of GRAP already in force in NCR. Various agencies responsible for implementing measures under GRAP, including Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) of NCR and DPCC, have also been addressed to ensure strict implementation of actions under Stage-III of the extant schedule of GRAP in addition to actions under Stages I & II of GRAP during this period,” stated a CAQM order.
The CAQM stated that the AQI exhibited a sharp increasing trend and was recorded as 365 at 4:00 pm on Wednesday owing to variable direction/calm winds, a smoggy situation, low mixing height, and ventilation coefficient for the dispersion of pollutants.
“The air quality is likely to be in the Very Poor category from Jan 30, 2025, to Feb 1, 2025. Meteorological conditions are likely to be unfavourable for the effective dispersion of pollutants. The outlook for the subsequent 6 days: The air quality is likely to be in the Very Poor to Poor category,” stated IITM.