No relief from high pollution levels

The air quality across the city worsened on Wednesday morning and was recorded in the very poor category.

The city’s Air Quality Index stood at 394 at 9:05 am on Wednesday, up from 365 on Tuesday.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 10.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, while the relative humidity was recorded at 76 per cent at 8:30 am.

Delhi has been witnessing a steep increase in AQI levels after a marginal improvement on Sunday.The city’s AQI stood at 348 at 4 pm on Monday, deteriorating from 301 on Sunday.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, 401 and 450 severe and above 450 severe plus.

The increase in AQI levels comes after the Centre on Saturday had removed stringent curbs, including a ban on construction work related to linear projects and the entry of polluting trucks, in Delhi following a drop in pollution levels due to favourable wind speed and direction.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has notified that the entry of buses, barring CNG, BSVI diesel and electric ones, will be automatically banned in the city whenever restrictions under the final stage of the Centre’s air pollution control plan are invoked.

Stage IV is the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot shared the notification on microblogging site X.

“Entry of all buses, including All India Tourist buses/Contract Carriage buses/State Transport Buses or holding any other kind of permit into Delhi from other states except CNG / Electric or BS-VI diesel buses will be restricted as and when GRAP IV invokes.

“The above-mentioned restrictions shall stand automatically applicable, as and when GRAP-IV is invoked from the date of issuance of this order in Delhi Gazette, and if the GRAP IV is revoked the said restrictions stand terminated automatically, no separate order will be issued,” the notification said.

Last month, the Delhi government directed that all buses entering the national Capital from Haryana will have to run on electricity, CNG or BS-VI diesel. Buses entering from the NCR regions of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan also need to follow these norms.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a statutory body responsible for formulating strategies to combat pollution in the NCR region, had on November 18 asked Delhi and NCR states to revoke all emergency measures under which only CNG, electric and BS VI-compliant vehicles from other states are allowed to enter Delhi, with exemptions granted to those involved in essential services.

The air quality across the city worsened on Wednesday morning and was recorded in the very poor category. The city’s Air Quality Index stood at 394 at 9.05 am on Wednesday, up from 365 on Tuesday.

The GRAP for the NCR has been classified under four different stages of adverse air quality in Delhi viz. Stage I ‘poor’ (AQI 201 300), Stage II ‘very poor (AQI 301-400), Stage III ‘severe’ (AQI 401-450) and Stage IV ‘severe plus’ (AQI more than 450), respectively.