A day after restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)-4 were lifted in the national capital following improvement in the air quality, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday appealed to the people to stay vigilant and continue to follow the rules as stages 1, 2, and 3 of the GRAP were still in place to tackle air pollution in the city.

Addressing a press conference here, Rai said: “Though there has been a constant improvement in air quality, people still need to be aware in order to maintain this improvement.”

Rai said that there was a positive trend in air quality over the past two days, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaching 290. However, he urged the public in Delhi and North India to remain cautious and comply with the established rules.

“The AQI as of today has reached 290. I want to request the people of Delhi and North India to remain vigilant. Although there has been improvement in pollution, we still need to be cautious. Before Diwali, the AQI had reached 215, but the carelessness that followed led to an increase in the AQI after Diwali,” the Delhi Environment Minister said.

He said that as per the order of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the restrictions of GRAP-4 have been lifted in Delhi. However, the restrictions of GRAP-1, GRAP-2 and GRAP-3 will remain in force, the Delhi Environment Minister said.

Once there is further improvement in pollution levels, the withdrawal of these restrictions will also be considered, he added.

Speaking about the restrictions related to vehicles, Rai said: “The ban on the entry of trucks has been revoked but the ban is still in place on the BS3 petrol vehicles and BS4 diesel vehicles. So the ban has been revoked only on trucks or vehicles that are above BS 4.”

The Delhi Environment Minister further added that only CNG, electric and BS-VI buses can come to Delhi.

Rai said direction has been given to special monitoring of hotspots and continuously intensifying water sprinkling.

He said the linear projects including Raj Marg, roads, flyovers, foot-over bridges and other similar projects that were stopped under GRAP 4, have been granted permission to resume their work now.

The Delhi Environment Minister also announced the lifting of the ban on certain construction activities, including the construction of flyovers, road development, foot overbridges (FOBs), high power tension lines, metro, airport, and other ongoing projects.

However, restrictions on activities prone to dust pollution, such as piling, digging, drilling, and boring, will persist to maintain air quality improvements

“The activities that are still prohibited include boring and digging, structural construction, demolition and loading or unloading of construction material at project sites,” he said.

Further enlisting the prohibited activities, the Delhi Environment Minister mentioned vehicles on unmetalled roads, benching plant operation, cutting and work related to tiles and other flooring material cutting and mining activities.

“We have to ensure that we do not get confused between GRAP 4 and GRAP 3 restrictions, as GRAP-4 restrictions have been removed but GRAP 3 restrictions are still in place,” Rai said.

With an improvement in the air quality in the national capital, the CAQM
on Saturday revoked the restrictions that were imposed under GRAP 4, permitting trucks and buses except for BS-3 and BS-4 petrol and diesel vehicles to enter the city and lifting the ban on ongoing construction activities.

Earlier on Thursday, Rai said a 6-member special task force has been formed under the leadership of the Environment Special Secretary for proper implementation and monitoring of GRAP rules.