New Delhi, December 12: With an AQI of 301 on Monday, the national capital's air quality remained in the "very poor" category.
The AQI in the vicinity of Delhi University was 314. Smog levels rose as the temperature dropped in the nation's capital. Noida had the highest AQI of any city in the NCR region, at 351. In Gurugram, the AQI was measured at 156.
Following an improvement in Delhi's overall air quality on December 7, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) decided to revoke Stage III of the GRAP all across the NCR.
The CAQM, a Union government panel that recommends steps to control air pollution in the national capital, chaired a meeting to review the air quality in Delhi-NCR on December 7. It put out a release saying, "As the AQI in Delhi has slipped into the 'severe' category, the sub-committee had decided that all actions, as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP, be implemented in right earnest by all the agencies concerned, with immediate effect in the NCR, in addition to all action under Stage I and Stage II of the GRAP.
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On December 4, the CAQM announced a temporary ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR as part of its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). The announcement came after the air quality in Delhi and the national capital region breached the 'severe' category.
On December 4, the CAQM temporarily banned construction activities, "with the exception of Metro Rail services, including stations; airport and inter-state bus terminals; railway services/stations; national security/defence-related activities/ projects of national importance; hospitals/healthcare facilities; linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines; sanitation projects like sewage treatment plants and water supply projects; ancillary activities specific to and supplementing above categories of projects" category.
The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.
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