Following a slight development in the air quality as the AQI improved from'severe' to 'very poor', the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Saturday lifted the anti-pollution curbs under Stage-IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi and adjoining areas.
The development came after reviewing that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital did not slip further in the past few days.
Moreover, according to RK Agrawal, Convenor of the Sub-Committee on GRAP, the decision was taken as the forecast by India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras also did not indicate any further exacerbation.
The CAQM also noted that the restrictions under GRAP Stage-IV are disruptive and impact a large number of stakeholders and public at large. Officials stated that monitoring agencies in the city are closely monitoring the situation and will make decisions accordingly based on the air quality.
However, it has been reported that the restrictions under Stages-I to Stage-III of the GRAP shall remain in place as the current air quality in the Delhi-NCR area still prevails at the 'very poor' category.
Stage-IV GRAP implementation
On November 5, as the AQI dropped to the 'Severe+' category (AQI >450), Stage-IV restrictions were implemented in Delhi and its adjacent areas.
The Sub-Committee for invoking actions under the GRAP held a meeting on Saturday and observed that the present AQI level of Delhi is around 322 (Very Poor), which is about 128 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-IV actions.
