
NEW DELHI: With winds improving the city’s air quality to ‘very poor’ on Saturday from ‘severe’ a day earlier, the ban on entry of trucks into Delhi, non-BS-VI compliant light commercial vehicles registered outside Delhi and diesel medium and heavy goods vehicles has been lifted after measures under the graded response action plan’s stage IV were rolled back.
GRAP measures under stage I to III, including restrictions on plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel LMVs in Delhi-NCR and ban on construction and demolition activities, will continue.
GRAP stage IV was enforced by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas on November 5 as the AQI was 454, in the ‘severe plus’ category. However, the AQI improved on Saturday to 319, the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category. “As per the dynamic model and forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by IMD and IITM, the overall air quality of Delhi is likely to stay in the ‘very poor’ category in the coming days,” said CAQM in a statement.
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The commission added that keeping in view its disruptive nature impacting a large number of stakeholders and public at large and with significant improvement in the average AQI of Delhi-NCR, the GRAP sub-committee unanimously decided to revoke Stage-IV in NCR with immediate effect. CAQM said the forecast by IMD or IITM also does not indicate any steep degradation further.
Following the order of CAQM, the Delhi transport department issued an order stating that restrictions imposed on truck traffic and plying of Delhi-registered diesel-operated medium and heavy goods vehicles has been relaxed. “However, restrictions on plying of BS-III and below petrol LMV and BS IV and below diesel LMV will remain in force,” said the order.
In its order, the CAQM has also withdrawn the ban on construction and demolition activities in linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, over bridges, power transmission and pipelines. However, C&D activities will continue to remain prohibited, except railway services, Metro, airport, inter-state bus terminals, defence-related activities, projects of national importance, hospitals, linear public projects and sanitation projects.
Other restrictions that will continue to be in force in NCR are operation of stone crushers, mining and associated activities in NCR and use of portable DG sets (below 19kW) for non-emergency purposes.
GRAP measures under stage I to III, including restrictions on plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel LMVs in Delhi-NCR and ban on construction and demolition activities, will continue.
GRAP stage IV was enforced by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas on November 5 as the AQI was 454, in the ‘severe plus’ category. However, the AQI improved on Saturday to 319, the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category. “As per the dynamic model and forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by IMD and IITM, the overall air quality of Delhi is likely to stay in the ‘very poor’ category in the coming days,” said CAQM in a statement.
Track the pollution level in your city
The commission added that keeping in view its disruptive nature impacting a large number of stakeholders and public at large and with significant improvement in the average AQI of Delhi-NCR, the GRAP sub-committee unanimously decided to revoke Stage-IV in NCR with immediate effect. CAQM said the forecast by IMD or IITM also does not indicate any steep degradation further.
Following the order of CAQM, the Delhi transport department issued an order stating that restrictions imposed on truck traffic and plying of Delhi-registered diesel-operated medium and heavy goods vehicles has been relaxed. “However, restrictions on plying of BS-III and below petrol LMV and BS IV and below diesel LMV will remain in force,” said the order.
In its order, the CAQM has also withdrawn the ban on construction and demolition activities in linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, over bridges, power transmission and pipelines. However, C&D activities will continue to remain prohibited, except railway services, Metro, airport, inter-state bus terminals, defence-related activities, projects of national importance, hospitals, linear public projects and sanitation projects.
Other restrictions that will continue to be in force in NCR are operation of stone crushers, mining and associated activities in NCR and use of portable DG sets (below 19kW) for non-emergency purposes.