Even as Stage-IV restrictions of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) under ‘Severe+’ category (above 450 AQI) are in force in Delhi and adjoining areas, the air quality index (AQI)had improved to ‘very poor’ category (301-400 AQI) for a few hours on Friday, recording 379 at 12 noon, before worsening to 400 by evening . The AQI was 365 at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
At 8 p.m, Friday, the AQI in the city was 409. Out of 39 spots in Delhi, Jahangirpuri’s AQI was reported at 452 and Anand Vihar at 451, both under ‘severe+’ category from ‘very poor’ category a day earlier. The lowest AQI was 344 at Lodi Road, according to data of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). As many as 23 places reported AQI above 400 while only 14 spots had less than 400 AQI.
Experts said that curbs need to be monitored and complimented the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for not immediately relaxing restrictions after AQI improved. “There is long way to travel to reach 151 AQI recorded on October 1 (when winter season had commenced),” said Himanshu Dixit, an anti-pollution activist.
The Supreme Court on Friday had said that it would consider on November 25 whether or not to ease the anti-pollution GRAP-4 restrictions in Delhi-NCR region.
The CAQM on Wednesday revised the GRAP guidelines, mandating the closure of schools in Delhi and NCR districts (Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Buddh Nagar) under Stages 3 and 4 of the plan. Earlier, the decision to implement these measures was left to the discretion of the State governments.
Further, the air pollution watchdog on Thursday night issued another order listing specific tasks for the enforcement of rules before governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It has sought daily report of actions under GRAP ‘without fail’ from all State governments in the NCR, including Delhi government.
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In the list of tasks, CAQM has asked Delhi government and the Delhi Traffic Police (which directly comes under Union Home Ministry) to check the entry points of Delhi for the non-permitted vehicles and proper arrangements be made at the border.
Stubble burning declines
Similarly Punjab and Haryana have been asked (specially Punjab) to revise inspection protocol for verification of fire incidences to within “24 hours” from existing “48 hours”. This year, the satellite monitoring stubble burning incidents have shown 71 per cent drop to 10,296 during September 15 and November 21 from 35,606 cases in the year-ago period in Punjab.
However, data compiled by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) show that the highest number of cases on a daily basis this season were recorded on November 18 in Punjab (1,251) and Rajasthan (152), in Haryana (98) on October 12, on in Uttar Pradesh (395) on November 20 and in Madhya Pradesh (1,124) on November 13.
Following the Supreme Court’s criticism over delaying the implementation of Stages 3 and 4 of the GRAP, the CAQM this week mandated that under Stage 3 the State governments are required to stagger the timings of public offices and municipal bodies in Delhi and the adjoining four districts in UP and Haryana. However, for other NCR districts, the decision on office timings remains at the discretion of the respective State governments.
GRAP IV restrictions were announced on the night of November 17 when Delhi’s daily average AQI rose to 457 at 7 p.m. from 441 at 4 p.m.. Several pollution control measures, including shifting of classes to online mode and banning truck entry were put in place from 8 a.m. on November 18.
The CAQM has classified the air quality under four stages: Stage 1 - ‘poor’ (AQI 201-300), Stage 2 - ‘very poor’ (AQI 301-400), Stage 3 - ‘severe’ (AQI 401-450) and Stage 4 - ‘severe plus’ (AQI above 450) and restrictions have been placed accordingly .