Air quality likely to turn ‘very poor’ in NCR; Centre invokes measures under GRAP ‘Stage II’

Concerned over a "possible" increase in pollution levels in the National Capital Region, the Centre’s air quality panel on Saturday directed authorities to increase parking fees to discourage private transport and enhance CNG or electric bus and metro services.The action comes as part of ‘Stage II’ of the central government’s pollution control plan known as the ‘Graded Response Action Plan’ (GRAP), which is implemented in the Delhi-NCR to combat air pollution during the winter season.At a meeting to review the air quality situation in the Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a statutory body responsible for proactively implementing GRAP, said forecasts by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) suggest Delhi’s overall air quality is likely to dip and enter the ‘very poor’ category on October 23 and 24, owing to unfavourable meteorological and climatic conditions.Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248 on Saturday.The panel therefore decided to invoke the measures under Stage II of GRAP in the entire NCR in addition to steps already taken under Stage I.“All actions as envisaged under Stage-II be implemented in right earnest by all the agencies concerned in NCR with immediate effect, in addition to all Stage-I actions of GRAP already in force,” it said in an order.GRAP categorises actions into four stages: Stage I – ‘Poor’ (AQI 201-300); Stage II – ‘Very Poor’ (AQI 301-400); Stage III – ‘Severe’ (AQI 401-450); and Stage IV – ‘Severe Plus’ (AQI >450).