Delhi: GRAP-2 pollution curbs enforced as air quality drops to ‘very poor’ category

The Commission for Air Quality Management on Monday imposed Stage 2 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi and the National Capital Region after air quality deteriorated to the “very poor” category.

GRAP is a set of incremental anti-pollution measures that are triggered to prevent further worsening of air quality once it reaches a certain threshold in Delhi-NCR.

In its order, the commission said that Delhi’s Air Quality Index showed a sharp rise from 117 on Saturday to 261 on Sunday and further increased to 324 on Monday “owing to unfavourable meteorological conditions”.

As of 6.05 pm, the national capital recorded an average AQI of 327, showed the Sameer application that provides hourly updates published by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Thirty-eight of the 58 active monitoring stations recorded “very poor” air quality levels, while three stations recorded an AQI above 400, which falls under the “severe” category. At 447, the AQI in northwestern Delhi’s Jahangirpuri was the worst, followed by 420 in Rohini and 415 in Punjab Bagh.

An index value between 0 and 50 indicates “good” air quality, between 51 and 100 indicates “satisfactory” air quality and between 101 and 200 indicates “moderate” air quality. As the index value increases further, air quality deteriorates. A value of 201 and 300 means “poor”...

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