The overall air quality in Delhi is likely to remain in the very poor to severe category between October 29 and October 30. It is likely to deteriorate to a severe category from October 31 to November 1, the Environment Ministry said on Saturday.

For the subsequent six days, the air quality is likely to fluctuate between severe and very poor category as per the dynamic model and weather/meteorological forecast, said the Ministry.

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The Sub-Committee for Invoking Actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) held an emergency meeting to address the deteriorating air quality in the region, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement.

The Commission, while comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters during the meeting, noted that due to unfavourable meteorological conditions with slower wind speed and sudden spike in the farm fire incidents, it is considered necessary to implement Stage III of GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR.

The winds are likely to be calm in the coming days and the wind direction is likely to change course frequently. Thus, there is a high likelihood of the pollutants getting trapped in the region and not getting dispersed effectively, it added.

The Sub-Committee exhaustively reviewed the air quality scenario in the region and noted that the air quality parameters are likely to dip in the coming days. In an effort to address the AQI of Delhi-NCR, the Sub-Committee today has taken the call to invoke all actions as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP – ‘Severe’ Air Quality (DELHI AQI ranging between 401-450), with immediate effect in the entire NCR.  This is in addition to the restrictive actions mentioned in Stage I and Stage II of GRAP.

Various agencies responsible for implementing measures under the GRAP and the Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) of NCR and DPCC have also been advised to ensure strict implementation of actions of Stage III under the GRAP during this period.