The Supreme Court of India on Thursday allowed the relaxation of GRAP-4 (Graded Response Action Plan) measures for Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), permitting the authorities to go down from Stage IV of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to Stage II.
“We have perused the figures of AQI from Nov 18- Dec 4. Up to Nov 30, it was consistently above 300 and it is only during last 4 days that the levels came down below 300. It is true that at some stage the court will have to leave to Commission to decide about GRAP applicability. Considering the data placed before us, we do not think that it will be appropriate at this stage to allow Commission to go below Stage 2,” the Court said.
The decision is taken by the bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih after observing the improvement with the AQI settling in the ‘moderate’ category at 161. Of the 38 monitoring stations that recorded air quality data, only six stations reported levels in the poor category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Despite the improvement, a thin layer of smog covered the city as winter set in, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reporting a minimum temperature of 9°C, accompanied by mist in the air.
