As air pollution levels touch new lows after the Diwali festivities, a central government panel has recommended a ban on construction activities in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) on October 29, 2022. The construction ban will have a bearing on ongoing housing projects in NCR cities, including Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.
The ban on construction activities covers earthwork for excavation, boring and drilling; fabrication and welding operations; loading and unloading of construction material; transfer of raw material, including fly ash, either manually or through conveyor belts; laying of sewer lines, waterline, drainage work, electric cabling through open trench system; cutting and fixing of tiles, stones and other flooring materials; grinding activities; piling work; water proofing work; road construction and repair works, etc.
The construction ban, however, will not be applicable on essential projects, including defence, metro rail, etc.
“It is considered necessary to implement Stage III of GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR,” the sub-committee of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said after an emergency meeting on October 29, 2022.
Aside from the general construction ban, the sub-committee of the CAQM has also recommended several other measures under the Graded Response Action Plan Stage -III (GRAP-III).
Meanwhile, the air quality in Delhi continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on October 30, 2022. The overall Air Quality Index in the capital city hit 350 in the morning. In some areas, the AQI reaching the ‘severe’ category.
What is GARP?
GRAP is a set of anti-air pollution measures that come into force, based on the severity of air quality in the NCR. Stage-I comes into effect when the air quality is ‘poor’ (AQI 201-300), Stage-II when the air quality is ‘very poor’ (AQI 301-400), Stage-III when it is ‘severe’ (AQI 401-450), and Stage-IV when it is ‘severe plus’ (AQI of over 450).
