On January 12, the Ministry of Environment and Forest has notified the “Graded Response Action Plan” to counter air pollution for the National Capital Region (NCR). The plan was cleared by the Supreme Court (SC) on December 2.

“High level of air pollution in Delhi and National Capital Region of Delhi has been a matter of serious concern and requires urgent measures to address the issue, particularly with reference to episodic rises in pollution levels… the Central Government hereby assigns the task of implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan to the EPCA,” the notification states.

The plan prepared by the SC mandated the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), to take specific action if particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and 10 concentrations reach a specific level in the NCR.

“We will hold a meeting with CPCB, the state pollution control authority and the India Meteorological Department in the next 3-4 days. They will create a framework to provide us with information on the pollution levels and the air quality forecast. We will then talk to states regarding the actions they have to take in their respective regions based on the forecast,” said Bhure Lal, chairperson, EPCA.

Some of these actions include imposing the odd-even traffic policy if the PM 2.5 levels become more than 300 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) or if PM 10 crosses the 500 mark. If the PM 2.5 levels are over 200, then parking fees would be raised 3-4 times, use of diesel generator sets would be banned and the bus and metro services would be increased.

“Our hope is that once the graded response is implemented, the air quality levels will not reach severe levels where the absolute emergency levels such as odd-even, stopping all construction, and stopping all trucks not carrying essential commodities from entering Delhi, have to be imposed. The good thing is that this becomes a framework for the whole country,” said Sunita Narain, member, EPCA.