Delhi Air Pollution: Delhi Metro on Thursday announced that it start 20 extra trips as the Central agency CAQM imposed stage-III GRAP restrictions in the national capital from Friday to check air pollution. The DMRC added that total 60 extra trips will be undertaken by Delhi Metro on weekdays till GRAP-III remains in place.
"In view of the implementation of GRAP-III from 8:00 AM tomorrow, 20 extra trips (in addition to 40 already in place since GRAP-II was implemented) will be inducted into services on weekdays starting tomorrow. Thus, 60 extra trips will be preformed by Delhi Metro on weekdays till GRAP-III remains in place," the DMRC said in a tweet.
With pollution reaching alarming levels, the central pollution watchdog imposed restrictions under the third stage of the GRAP in Delhi-NCR on Thursday, including a ban on construction and demolition activities.
The air quality in the capital remained in the "severe" category for a second consecutive day, prompting authorities to impose stringent anti-pollution measures. The restrictions will come into force from Friday. The decision was taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).
Under the third stage of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), all inter-state buses from NCR states -- except electric vehicles, CNG vehicles and BS-VI diesel buses -- will be prohibited from entering Delhi, alongside a stringent ban on construction and demolition activities, suspension of mining-related activities, consideration of shifting to online classes for students up to Class 5 and daily water sprinkling on major roads.
Under the third stage of the GRAP, there would be restrictions on the plying of BS-lll petrol and BS-IV diesel vehicles in Delhi and the districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
The GRAP for Delhi-NCR is divided into four stages of air quality -- Stage 1 for "poor" Air Quality Index (AQI) ranging between 201 and 300, Stage 2 for "very poor" AQI of 301-400, Stage 3 for "severe" AQI of 401-450 and Stage 4 for "severe plus" AQI (more than 450).
