Delhi's air quality is improving and is shortly to be classified as "poor."

Delhi's air quality is improving and is shortly to be classified as "poor."

Officials predict that Delhi's air quality would drop to the "poor" category by the following weekend after staying in the "moderate" category for about two weeks. The Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) is anticipated to go into Stage 1 as a result of this change.

According to HT, the National Capital Region (NCR) has not yet adopted the new Grap, which is generally phased in starting on October 1 every year. Due to Delhi's air quality index (AQI) continuing to be below the essential level of 201, this is the case.

The National Capital Region (NCR) has not yet implemented Grap, which is normally deployed in stages beginning on October 1 of each year. This is due to Delhi's air quality index (AQI) not having risen above the dangerous level of 201.

27 measures make up the first phase of Grap, including the closure of construction and demolition sites larger than five hundred square meters that are not registered with government officials on its "web portal" for dust the leadership team, as well as the periodic use of mechanized vacuuming and water sprinkling on roads.

On Thursday morning, Delhi's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) was 177, which is considered to be "moderate." The air quality has been gradually deteriorating over the previous few days, despite the fact that there has only been a one-unit increase in AQI when compared to Wednesday's reading of 176 (also "moderate").

This fall occurred at the same time when temperatures dropped and there were more crop fires in the northern plains. For comparison, Delhi's AQI on Tuesday was 155 and on Monday it was 146.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which is in charge of putting Grap into action, has said that, as last year, they will rely on the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi to start preventative measures.

Although they take early action based on EWS forecasts for Stages 2, 3, and 4, a CAQM spokesperson said that they are forced to wait until the Air Quality Index (AQI) exceeds 200 and falls into the "poor" category before imposing Stage 1 measures.

"Measures under Stage 1 could be put into effect based on the AQI on Saturday. According to projections, the CAQM subcommittee on GRAP will hold regular meetings, a CAQM 

official stated.