New Delhi, Dec 16 (UNI) As the air quality index (AQI) in the national capital entered the “very poor” category, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Monday reimposed the revised third phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the Delhi-NCR region with immediate effect.
The Sub-Committee for GRAP, in its meeting held today, comprehensively reviewed the air quality scenario in the region, along with forecasts from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) regarding meteorological conditions and Delhi’s air quality index.
“The AQI of Delhi has crossed the 350 mark and is showing an increasing trend on today owing to extremely calm wind conditions and buildup of an inversion layer adversely affecting the vertical mixing height,” the CAQM said.
Forecasts from IMD/IITM also indicate a likelihood of the AQI to remain in the higher end of very poor category owing to the continued adverse meteorological conditions.
In an effort to prevent further deterioration of the air quality the Sub-Committee decided that all actions as envisaged under Stage-III of GRAP be implemented with immediate effect in right earnest by all agencies across the entire NCR. This will be in addition to the actions under Stages-I and II of the revised GRAP schedule already in force.
The air quality in the national capital has entered the very poor category with an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 398 as of 8 PM today. Some areas of the city have breached the 400 AQI mark. The AQI at Delhi’s Anand Vihar was recorded at 455, Punjabi Bagh at 441, Nehru Nagar at 440, Wazirpur at 440 and Vivek Vihar at 437.
