Delhi air quality hits 'poor' mark; Gensets banned as pollution plan rolls out today

New Delhi, Oct 15: Air quality in New Delhi continues to worsen as the Delhi government's Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) comes into play today to curb air pollution, proactively rolling out stricter measures depending on the need to discourage private vehicles on roads, stop entry of trucks, use of diesel generators, and closing brick kilns and stone crushers.

Delhi braces for deteriorating air quality

The air quality in Delhi has begun deteriorating ahead of the winter season. On Sunday, it turned "very poor" with the overall Air Quality Index going beyond the 300 marks. On Monday, it improved by around 50 points but the situation has continued to oscillate between poor and very poor for the last 24 hours. While on Tuesday, Air Quality Index (AQI) as high as 317 was recorded in Dwarka's Sector 8 and 314 in Anand Vihar, both of which fall under the category of 'hazardous' owing to the large concentration of PM10 pollutant particles.

GRAP to come into force from today:

The Graded Response Action Plan to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR will come into force proactively rolling out stricter measures depending on the need to discourage private vehicles on roads, stop the entry of trucks, use of diesel generators, and closing brick kilns and stone crushers.

This year, GRAP will witness the return of Delhi government's odd-even car rationing scheme from November 4 and the extension of the ban on diesel gen-sets to NCR cities of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh.

First implemented GRAP in 2017:

Prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board and first implemented in Delhi-NCR in 2017, the Graded Response Action Plan lists measures to curb air pollution according to the severity of the situation.

Ban on Diesel Gen-sets:

GRAP measures include increasing bus and metro services, hiking parking fees and Banning use of diesel gen-sets when the air quality turns "poor".This year, GRAP will witness the return of Delhi government's odd-even car rationing scheme from November 4 and the extension of the ban on diesel gen-sets to NCR cities of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh.

GRAP measures include increasing bus and metro services, hiking parking fees and stopping use of diesel gen-sets when the air quality turns "poor".