CAQM clears revised GRAP framework for Delhi-NCR air quality management

Key facts

• The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) approved the revised Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) schedule for the National Capital Region under the chairmanship of CAQM Chairperson Rajesh Verma.
• Under the revised schedule, several repeated measures related to dust control, municipal solid waste management and transport have been merged under Stage I.
• Restrictions on BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel or below-standard light motor vehicles have been extended to Sonipat, in addition to Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
• Restrictions on the entry of diesel-operated BS-IV and below-standard light and medium goods vehicles registered outside Delhi have been specified under Stage III.
• The revised GRAP contains 25 actions under Stage-I, eight under Stage-II, ten under Stage-III and five under Stage-IV.
• CAQM approved expansion of web portal-based monitoring of dust control measures at eligible construction and demolition sites beyond municipal limits, and noted that over one thousand eight hundred violating units had received closure orders.