The central government banned non-essential construction work in Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) on Friday as it invoked the Stage-3 curbs of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) amid the declining air quality.
State governments in NCR have been asked to make a decision on the discontinuation of physical classes.
Curbs have also been imposed on the plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel 4-wheeler vehicles in Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a statutory body tasked with developing strategies to address pollution in the region, stated in an order that adverse meteorological conditions, such as fog and haze coupled with low wind speed, are the primary factors contributing to a sudden increase in Delhi’s daily average Air Quality Index (AQI).
At 8.30 am, the relative humidity stood at 100 per cent, while the AQI at 10 am persisted in the ‘very poor’ category, registering at 397. At 4 pm, the AQI was in the ‘severe’ category at 409.
Implementing restrictions under GRAP, the CAQM issued directives prohibiting non-essential construction activities, stone crushing, and mining in Delhi-NCR.
However, construction activities linked to national security or defence, healthcare, railways, projects of national significance, interstate bus terminals, metro rail, airports, highways, overbridges, roads, flyovers, power transmission, pipelines, sanitation, and water supply are exempted from the imposed restrictions.
On Friday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.4 degrees Celsius, falling within the normal range for the winter season, as reported by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The department predicted light rainfall throughout the day. According to the IMD’s forecast, shallow to moderate fog is expected during the day.
The AQI categorises scores from zero to 500, with values between zero and 50 considered “good,” 51 to 100 labelled as “satisfactory”, 101 to 200 as “moderate”, 201 to 300 as “poor”, 301 to 400 as “very poor” and 401 to 500 as “severe”.
According to the data, vehicles contributed to 35 per cent of the PM2.5 concentration on Thursday at 5 pm, while biomass burning accounted for 34 per cent, and burning of plastic and waste contributed an additional 6 per cent. A comparison with the previous day’s data at the same time indicated a shift, with vehicles contributing 61 per cent, biomass burning contributing 20%, and waste burning contributing 1 per cent.
The forecasts indicate that Delhi’s air quality is expected to remain in the “very poor” category for the next three days.
“Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category from December 22 to December 24. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows the air quality is likely to remain between ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.