NEW DELHI: The Graded Responsibility Action Plan (GRAP) to control the emergency environment situation will be launched on Tuesday by the Delhi government and come into action on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the government has notified that the Badarpur thermal power plant will close operations from Wednesday for an indefinite time.
"We are all set to introduce GRAP. On Tuesday, we will launch this and it would be effective from Wednesday," said Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), a Supreme Court appointed body.
The GRAP defines the measures to be taken based on air quality on the basis of PM 2.5 and PM10 particulate matter in the atmosphere.
Based on the air quality, the grades have been classified as Emergency, Severe, Very Poor and Moderate poor.
Under this plan, emergency measures will be automatically enforced in Delhi-NCR, if the level of PM2.5 breaches 300 micrograms per cubic metre.
"We think that this plan will help the city control pollution and we have notified the Delhi government to get prepared for all the necessary emergency measures," added Lal.
In a related development, the Environment Department of the Delhi government has ordered that the Badarpur thermal power plant
would be closed from the Wednesday night for an indefinite period.
"We have received the order from the government and the plant would be closed. The FIFA U-17 World Cup is going on and that is why we got this extension. Or else it was supposed to be closed on Monday," an official at the power plant said.
However, authorities at the Badarpur power plant have expressed their dissatisfaction with the order and predicted that there could be a huge power crisis in the city because of this.
Sources in Delhi government said that after Diwali, whenever the government will find that air quality in the city is under control, the power plant will resume operations.