NEW DELHI: Resuming the ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ campaign, deploying anti-smog guns, and invoking stage III of the pollution management plan are among the actions taken by the Delhi government and other agencies after the city’s air quality fell into the’severe’ category, according to officials. A government official in Delhi claims that the national capital has adopted the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 3, which completely prohibits any kind of building or demolition. On Thursday, the Centre’s pollution control body called for the GRAP III to be implemented, stopping all non-essential building, mining, and stone crushing in Delhi-NCR. In Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar, there are further limitations on the operation of four-wheelers classified as BS III petrol and BS IV diesel during this phase.Anti-smog guns have been stationed at several locations, including Anand Vihar, Kashmiri Gate ISBT, ITO, Pusa Road, Jahangirpuri, Narela Industrial area, and Burari Crossing, by the Delhi administration, which has intensified efforts to combat the pollution crisis, according to officials. “The process of sprinkling water is underway in the national capital in view of the pollution in the city,” a Public Works Department (PWD) official stated. Road dust is constantly monitored by anti-smog cannons, which we also employ in construction zones.”The ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ campaign was initiated by the Delhi government on October 28th, with the aim of raising awareness among commuters and motorists about the increasing levels of pollution and motivating them to turn off their vehicles. A year after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena placed it on hold due to concerns about its efficacy, it was relaunched. Gopal Rai, the environment minister, had previously announced that 2,500 civil defence volunteers would be sent out to oversee the campaign’s execution at 100 strategically important traffic crossings. Delhi’s air quality, with an AQI of 315 till Thursday morning, was still classified as “very poor,” and by the evening it had dropped to 418. It became worse on Friday morning, with the AQI rising to 450.GRAP divides actions into four stages: ‘Very Poor’ (AQI 301–400), ‘Poor’ (AQI 201-300), ‘Severe’ (AQI 401–450), and ‘Severe Plus’ (AQI beyond 450) are the stages into which actions fall. According to officials, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has set up Rs 20 lakh for each zone to implement air pollution control measures. They said that the MCD is concentrating its efforts on using labour and equipment to remove trash from train tracks. According to an MCD spokesman, the organisation plans to buy dust suppressants, which will be sprayed during non-peak hours at least every other day using water sprinklers and anti-smog guns.
