00:00Breaking news coming in from National Capital Region as pollution levels spike.
00:06It seems GRAP 4, the graded response action plan,
00:10its fourth phase has been invoked in the NCR region for the first time in this pollution season.
00:17Now, this is after the AQI was recorded at 441 today.
00:22Under GRAP 4, there will be a complete ban on construction activities
00:26and schools could operate in hybrid mode.
00:30Joining us now is India Today's Milan Sharma.
00:34Milan, what is the situation of pollution in Delhi?
00:38And also, what should people plan for keeping GRAP 4 in mind?
00:45Well, Anjali, it's a very serious position at the moment
00:48because since morning we've been reporting on how the air quality in the National Capital
00:53has been sliding to the severe category and now it's reached severe plus.
00:58In the morning itself, there were more than 10 monitoring stations that had breached the 400 mark.
01:03And remember that after 400, any air you breathe, whether it's 300 or 400, is as it is poisonous.
01:10Now, the problem is that PM 2.5 particulate matter is showing a very high degree of concentration in the pollution
01:20and that's why GRAP 4 has been imposed by the CAQM.
01:24Obviously, that demands one of the most primary things is that ban on construction activities
01:30because dust is seen as one of the prime reasons for the increase in pollution.
01:34Of course, classes for children till class 5 will go into hybrid mode necessarily.
01:40This would impact a lot of the schools and not just in Delhi, mind you.
01:44So, this has to be done by the governments across NCR.
01:47So, that includes cities of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, Faridabad as well as Gurgaon in Haryana.
01:56And plus, another very big measure that comes under GRAP 4 is also whether offices should start allowing people
02:03to work from home on a 50% capacity.
02:06That is another measure that is mentioned in the GRAP and erstwhile it used to happen when a GRAP 4 was activated,
02:13governments were allowed to make vehicular emissions less by imposing measures like odd-even.
02:20Will the Delhi government impose an odd-even this time around?
02:24That is a question that will need to be answered by the Delhi government.
02:27It's one of the measures that was taken a lot last time.
02:30But this is very important because decongestion of hotspots of pollution and certainly with the falling temperatures,
02:39rise in smog, it's only going to get worse from here on in the coming days.
02:45And certainly these measures need to be implemented on a crackdown basis as far as CAQM is concerned.
02:51Right, absolutely. Thank you, Milen.
02:52So, clearly, GRAP 4 not only impacts the pollution levels but also impacts lives of people
02:57because a lot of things change so we'll be keeping an eye on it and bringing you all the information
03:02as to whether there are any changes made by the governments or not.
03:06Thank you, Milen.
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