The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has approved the revised Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) schedule for the National Capital Region. The decision was taken under the chairmanship of CAQM Chairperson Rajesh Verma yesterday.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed that 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 (LMVs) have been extended to Sonipat in addition to the existing High Vehicle Density districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar. It said that the Restrictions on the entry of diesel-operated BS-IV and below-standard light and medium goods vehicles registered outside Delhi have also been specified under Stage III. The revised GRAP now contains 25 actions under Stage-I, eight under Stage-II, ten under Stage-III and five under Stage-IV. The Commission also approved expansion of web portal-based monitoring of dust control measures at eligible construction and demolition sites beyond municipal limits. It reviewed enforcement action, noting that over one thousand eight hundred violating units had received closure orders.