The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has activated stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which includes a restriction on all non-essential construction and demolition operations in Delhi-NCR, due to the air quality in the national capital region declining to `severe’ levels.
Real estate developers responded to the decision by stating that it will affect both builders and homebuyers as a one-month construction ban often causes a project to be delayed by at least two to three months. They further stated that while enforcing air pollution laws, the government should take a case-by-case approach and regulate the primary sources of pollution, which are vehicle emissions and roadside dust.
The air quality index (AQI) for Delhi at 5 p.m. on November 2, 2023, was 402. In addition to prohibiting non-essential building and demolition operations, GRAP-III forbids the entry of trucks, medium and heavy cargo vehicles registered outside of Delhi, and diesel light commercial vehicles (LCVs) (except from those engaged in the provision of vital services)
