Noida News: New GRAP Guidelines! Crackers Banned, End-of-Life Vehicles Restricted from Oct 1, What You Must Know

Noida News: The Noida Authority and the district administration have been instructed to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) starting on October 1 in accordance with the updated Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) guidelines in order to reduce pollution levels this winter.

Ban on Firecrackers and Older Vehicles During GRAP Stage 1

A few of the new CAQM recommendations in the citizen charter advise against using firecrackers during celebrations and driving end-of-life cars—older than 15 and 10 years for petrol and diesel vehicles, respectively—during GRAP stage 1, or when the AQI is in the 201-300 range ('bad'), which is when air quality is at its worst. Noida, Greater Noida, and Ghaziabad have seen "good," "satisfactory," and "moderate" air quality ratings during the past week. The air quality index (AQI) for Noida, Greater Noida, and Ghaziabad on Monday was 42, 71, and 46, respectively. On January 9, 2023, Noida achieved the highest AQI reading, 434. On December 19, 2022, Greater Noida reported an AQI of 442, and on November 3, 2022, Ghaziabad had an AQI of 416. Regional officer for the UPPCB in Noida, Utsav Sharma, stated that the district administration had already instructed the Authority and its departments to take the appropriate actions as well.

Actions for Each GRAP Stage in NCR

“The CAQM has issued a revised guidelines on measures to be taken from stages 1-4. We will ensure compliance with the same,” said Sharma. According to the air quality, GRAP for NCR is divided into four stages: stage 1 when the AQI is between 201 and 300 ('poor'), stage 2 when the AQI is between 301 and 400 ('very poor'), stage 3 when the AQI is between 401 and 450 ('severe'), and state 4 when the AQI is more than 540 ('severe plus'). Dust reduction in construction and demolition (C&D) sites, routine civic garbage removal, mechanised sweeping, ensuring that cars adhere to PUC standards, enforcement of court or tribunal rulings on the prohibition of firecrackers, and discoms to avoid power supply interruptions in NCR are just a few of the GRAP stage 1 actions.

Progressing Through GRAP Stages

GRAP stage 2 activities include mechanical road sweeping, inspection of C&D sites, uninterrupted power supply to discourage use of DG sets, synchronised traffic movement, deployment of traffic personnel at intersections, alerts in newspapers, TV, and radio about dos and don'ts, augmentation of CNG, operation of electric buses and metro services, etc. more use of public transportation, more mechanised sweeping, water misting to reduce dust, a ban on stone crushers, and a restriction on C&D activities—with the exception of projects like railroads, airports, metro stations, hospitals, etc.—are all GRAP stage 3 acts. Actions taken during GRAP stage 4 include prohibiting vehicles from entering, save for those transporting necessities, and prohibiting C&D works, such as building roads, flyovers, overbridges, and electricity transmission lines. The NCR state governments may at this point stop offering pupils traditional classroom instruction and convert to an online format. 50% of employees in state governments and private businesses may be permitted to work from home.

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