Himalaya Harbinger, Uttarakhand Bureau
Delhi’s air quality remained “very poor” on Thursday, a day after the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) revoked Stage 3 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), even as the minimum temperature of 8.3°C was marginally up from a season’s lowest of 8°C a day earlier.
On Tuesday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 9°C, compared to 9.3°C on Monday. It plunged to the lowest for November since 2022 on Wednesday. An average air quality index (AQI) of 355 was recorded at 9am. It was 327 at 4pm on Wednesday.
Stage 3 Grap restrictions were revoked despite forecasts indicating air quality will remain “very poor”. A week earlier, the Supreme Court asked CAQM to take “proactive action” and make pollution control measures more stringent.
The AQI on Wednesday was marginally better than Tuesday’s 353 and Monday’s 382. It marked the 21st straight day of AQI above 300. The longest such streak since 2019 was last year, with 32 straight days of 300+ AQI between October 30 and November 30. This included a peak of 494 (severe) AQI on November 18. The second-longest streak of such days since 2019 is 23, which was logged between December 17, 2018, and January 8, 2019.
The revocation of Stage 3 curbs allowed private construction and demolition, mining, and other allied activities to resume in NCR. A restriction on older BS-3 petrol and BS-4 vehicles from plying in the region was also lifted, among other vehicular restrictions. Other measures lifted included primary classes having to run on hybrid mode and both government and private offices operating with a 50% workforce.
