The Union government panel that recommends steps to control pollution in the national capital region has revoked actions under graded response action plan (GRAP) stage 4 as the pollution level has gone down marginally.

The Sub-Committee revoked the order, issued on 3rd November 2022, for actions under Stage-IV of the GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi-NCR) with immediate effect. Actions under Stages-I to Stage-III of GRAP shall however remain invoked and will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.

The panel has allowed entry of diesel vehicles to Delhi now. However, the ban on non-essential construction activities will continue.

According to an official statement from the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region (CAQM), actions under Stages-I to Stage-III of the GRAP shall however remain invoked and be implemented, monitored and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further to the 'Severe'/ 'Severe +' category.

Earlier, to track down the pollution in the Delhi NCR region, the Delhi Traffic Police on Sunday took action against around 3,000 diesel-run vehicles.

According to the police, 1767 trucks have been stopped at different borders of Delhi, while 150 vehicles carrying large and medium-sized diesel-run goods have been stopped and seized across Delhi.

According to the traffic police, action has been taken against 1296 small diesel-run vehicles, which were not BS6 and were not connected to any essential service.

Earlier, in wake of the Delhi AQI nearing the 'Severe +' Category (AQI >450), the GRAP Stage-IV actions were invoked on November 3, based on the AQI forecasts. The forecasts also indicated a significant improvement around November 5 and 6 2022.

(With inputs from ANI)