GRAP - ENVIRONMENT
News: What is GRAP, Delhi-NCR’s
action plan to combat rising air pollution?
What's in the news?
● With
the Nation Capital Region’s air quality deteriorating to hazardous levels, the
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Thursday (November 3) invoked
measures under Stage 4 of the Graded
Response Action Plan (GRAP) with immediate effect.
Graded Response Action
Plan:
● GRAP
is a set of emergency measures that kick
in to prevent further deterioration of air quality once it reaches a certain
threshold.
● The
GRAP was first notified in January 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change. This was based on a plan that was submitted by the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in November 2016.
Implementation:
● The
CAQM has constituted a sub-committee
for the operationalization of the GRAP.
●
Revision of GRAP
● The
CAQM revised the Graded Response Action Plan earlier this year.
● According
to the notification, the task of implementing the GRAP fell on the now
dissolved Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority for the NCR.
From 2021 onwards, the GRAP is being implemented by the CAQM.
● In
the version of the GRAP that was notified in 2017, measures kicked in after
pollution concentrations reached a certain level. This year, measures are
pre-emptive and will kick in based on forecasts in an attempt to prevent the
AQI from deteriorating further.
● The older version of the
GRAP was enforced based only on the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10. This year,
GRAP is being enforced based on the AQI, which takes other pollutants also into
account, such as ozone, sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen.
Stages of GRAP and their
restrictions:
Stage 1 (AQI ‘Poor’ – 201
to 300):
● Stopping
all construction and demolition activities with plot size of 500 square meters
or more which have not been registered on dust mitigation monitoring portals.
● Mechanized
sweeping, water sprinkling on roads.
● Enforcing
guidelines on use of anti-smog guns at construction sites.
● Enforcing
ban on open burning of waste and PUC (pollution under control norms) for
vehicles.
● DISCOMs
to minimize power supply interruptions in NCR.
● Encourage
offices to start unified commutes for employees to reduce traffic.
● Not
allowing coal/firewood in tandoors at hotels.
● Stopping
use of diesel generator sets except for essential and emergency services
(hospitals, railways, metro services, airports, water pumping stations,
“projects of national importance”).
● Enhance
parking fees to discourage private transport.
● Augment
CNG/ electric bus and metro services by procuring additional fleet and
increasing the frequency of service.
Stage 3 (AQI ‘Severe’ –
401 to 450):
● Ban
on construction and demolition activities except railway, metro, hospitals,
sanitation projects etc, linear public projects like highways, roads, flyovers.
● Closure
of industries that have PNG supply and are not running on approved fuels. In
industrial areas that don’t have PNG supply, industries not running on approved
fuels will operate only for five days a week.
● State governments in NCR may impose restrictions on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four wheelers.
Stage 4 (AQI ‘Severe +’ –
more than 450):
● Stop
entry of truck traffic into Delhi (except for essentials, CNG and electric
trucks).
● Ban
on plying of Delhi registered diesel medium and heavy goods vehicles in Delhi,
except for essentials.
● Ban
on plying of 4-wheeler diesel vehicles in Delhi and districts of NCR bordering
Delhi, except BS-VI vehicles and vehicles used for essential or emergency
services.
● State
Governments may consider additional emergency measures like closure of schools,
plying of vehicles on odd-even basis
● NCR
State governments decide on allowing public, municipal and private offices to
work on 50% strength and the rest to work from home.