Grap 2 enforced in Delhi, CAQM says air may deteriorate

The federal anti-air pollution agency for the National Capital Region (NCR), Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), on Saturday enforced measures such as banning use of diesel generators and allowing agencies to charge more for public parking to curb use of private vehicles as the quality recorded a sharp drop on Saturday and was forecast to reach the “very poor” band by Monday.

The measures are listed under Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) and are enforced at various stages of air pollution, which becomes a crisis during this time of the year.

The decision was based on the forecast by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi-NCR. The system developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology showed that the air quality is likely to remain in the poor category on Sunday as well, but it may worsen to very poor on Monday.

On Saturday, the national capital recorded the average air quality index of 248, a sharp increase from 195 on Friday. According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI), an index value between 0-50 means “good” air quality, 51-100 means “satisfactory”, 101-200 signifies “moderate”, 201-300 means “poor”, 301-400 “very poor” and 401-450 means “severe”.

VK Soni, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD) and member of the CAQM sub-committee, attributed the declining air quality to calm winds. “The winds are particularly slow now and boundary layer height is shallow. These factors are favourable for accumulation of pollutants. The contribution from stubble burning is still very small, but picking up,” said Soni.

Smoke from paddy stubble burning in upwind states of Punjab and Haryana usually becomes pervasive over the region between the last week of October and the first half of November.

Delhi’s maximum temperature on Saturday settled at 31.4° Celsius (C), one degree below normal, similar to what was recorded on Friday.

According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base weather station, Saturday’s minimum temperature stayed at 15.8°C, three degrees below normal. On Friday, the minimum temperature stood at 16.1°C.

In a statement issued on Saturday, CAQM said, “... it was noted that the air quality parameters are likely to dip and reach the projected levels of Stage-II of Grap on Monday and Tuesday, as per the dynamic model and meteorological forecast provided by IMD (India Meteorological Department) and IIT-M (Indian Institute of Technology Madras). Therefore, in an effort to prevent further deterioration of air quality, the sub-committee for operationalisation of Grap has taken the call to invoke 11-point action plan as per Stage-II of revised Grap in the entire NCR.”

The statement said that agencies responsible for implementing measures under Grap including pollution control boards of NCR states and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee have been asked to ensure successful and strict implementation of actions under Stage 2, in addition to actions under Stage 1. The Stage 2 also entails increasing the number of CNG and electric buses as well as frequency of Metro trains.

According to experts, the contribution of stubble fires in Punjab is still negligible to air pollution in Delhi, and it is mostly the local pollution sources and meteorological factors that are causing an increase in air quality index. Calm winds and low temperatures makes it difficult for the pollutants to disperse.

The predominant surface wind is likely to be from north-west directions in Delhi with wind speed of 8kmph, according to the Early Warning System forecast.

The Delhi government did not respond to request for comment. On Friday, environment minister Gopal Rai said that the government was using anti-smog vehicles to deal with dust pollution in addition to other steps.

Stage 1 of Grap was put in place for the first time this season on October 6 after the AQI touched the “poor” category at 212 after a gap of 114 days.

Stage 1 allows agencies concerned to shut down any construction and demolition (C&D) site with an area over 500 sqms that is not registered with the government. The CAQM had advised the public to follow the citizens’ charter, a set of guidelines to help reduce air pollution as part of Grap. These include keeping engines properly tuned, having their PUC up to date, ensuring no idling of vehicles at red lights.

People living in Delhi stand to lose nearly 12 years of their lives because of air pollution, the worst in all megacities of the world, a global report released in August had found, with the Capital’s satellite cities of Noida and Gurugram next in line with average loss of life of more than 11 years.

The average Delhi resident might lose 11.9 years of their lives on an average to air pollution, the Air Quality Life Index 2023 report of the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) has stated. The NCR was the most polluted hotspot across the country, said the EPIC report, which is published annually.