GRAP to come into force from today

New Delhi: The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb air pollution in Delhi will come into force on Tuesday. This indicates that stricter measures (depending on the situation) will be taken — discourage private vehicles on roads, stop use of diesel generators, close brick kilns, and stone crushers.

The air quality in Delhi has begun to deteriorate ahead of the winter season. A report by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) on Sunday, said that it had shifted to "very poor" with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) going beyond 300 mark. On Monday, it improved by roughly 50 points and the situation has continued to oscillate between poor and very poor for the last 24 hours. Biomass burning is likely to contribute 9 per cent to Delhi's PM2.5 concentration on October 15.

This year, GRAP will witness the return of the Delhi government's odd-even car rationing scheme from November 4 and the extension of the ban on diesel gen-sets to NCR cities of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh, said a report.

GRAP measures include — increasing bus and metro services, hiking parking fees and stopping use of diesel gen-sets when the air quality turns "poor". When it turns "severe", GRAP recommends closure of brick kilns, stone crushers and hot mix plants, sprinkling of water, frequent mechanised cleaning of roads and maximising power generation from natural gas.