The Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Wednesday revoked the stringent Stage III restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across the National Capital Region (NCR), citing an “improvement” in air quality.
The Stage III curbs were imposed on November 11 when Delhi’s air pollution breached the 400 mark. After the easing of restrictions, hybrid classes for students up to Class 5, 50% attendance limits in public and private offices, and the ban on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheelers will no longer apply.
AQI 327 on Wednesday
The CAQM noted that Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) has steadily improved from 391 on Sunday, 382 on Monday, 353 on Tuesday, and 327 on Wednesday. “Keeping in view the disruptive nature of Stage III restrictions impacting a large number of stakeholders and the trend of improvement in Delhi’s average AQI, the CAQM Sub-Committee on GRAP today unanimously decided to revoke all actions under Stage III in the entire NCR, with immediate effect,” read the order.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between 51 and 100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’. Stage I of GRAP is invoked in the ‘poor’ category, Stage II in ‘very poor’, Stage III in ‘severe’, and Stage IV when the AQI exceeds 450.
