Delhi: AQI returns to ‘poor’, Grap 3 lifted across NCR
Delhi's air quality improved to "poor" with AQI at 289, leading to the lifting of Stage 3 pollution measures. Dense fog persists, with yellow alerts issued.
Delhi’s air quality returned to the “poor” category on Friday after two days of pollution levels in the “very poor” zone, resulting in the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region (NCR) lifting Stage 3 measures of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap).

The 23-hour average air quality index (AQI) dropped to 289 at 4pm on Friday, an improvement from 302 (very poor) at 4pm on Thursday and 400 at 8pm on Wednesday. By 11pm, Friday’s AQI had dropped to 266. Stage 4 Grap measures, which were imposed on Wednesday, were lifted the next day.
Friday was colder than Thursday. The maximum temperature was 18 degrees Celsius (°C), down from 19.6°C on Thursday and 1.6°C below the normal. The minimum temperature was 8.8°C, a drop from 10.3°C the day before and 1.2°C above the normal. The India Meteorological department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for the weekend, warning people of a moderate to dense fog.
IMD has forecast another western disturbance to start impacting northwest India from January 18 onwards, with chances of another spell of light rain in Delhi on January 22 or 23. The maximum and minimum temperature are forecast to be around 19°C and 7°C.
“The minimum will drop till the western disturbance impacts the region. After that, we will likely see a rise in the minimum temperature again,” added the Met official.
Delhi’s AQI had last entered the “poor” category on January 12 after which Stage 3 Grap measures were revoked. AQI remained poor until Wednesday when it dropped to “very poor”, and further dropped to 400 later at night after which Stage 4 of Grap was invoked.
The restrictions under Grap Stage 3 that were removed on Friday include the ban on plying of BS3 petrol and BS4 diesel four-wheelers in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar, as well as a ban on construction and demolition activities, stone crushers, and mining and associated activities.
Schools up to Class 5 in Delhi and neighbouring cities of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar can also switch to offline mode from “hybrid” mode (physical and online).
Delhi-registered diesel-operated Medium Goods Vehicles (MGVs) that are BS4 and lower are allowed to ply in Delhi and BS4 or lower diesel-operated Light Commercial Vehicles (goods carriers), registered outside Delhi will be allowed to enter the city again as well.
The Supreme Court on December 5 had asked CAQM to invoke Stage 3 measures at 350 AQI instead of the original 400 threshold and Stage 4 at 400 AQI instead of the 450 threshold.
“Considering the trend of improvement in the average AQI of Delhi and also the forecasts by IMD/ IITM indicating the likelihood of the overall air quality of Delhi to stay in the lower end ‘very poor’ category in the coming days, the CAQM sub-committee on Grap today unanimously decided to revoke all actions under Stage 3 of the extant schedule of Grap in the entire NCR with immediate effect,” CAQM said on Friday.
The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the air quality to remain in the “poor” to “very poor” category in the coming days.
The visibility in several parts of the Capital dropped severely due to a dense to very dense fog on Friday morning.
Visibility was poor in many parts of the city on Friday morning that saw a dense to very dense fog. Visibility at Palam had dropped to zero by 9.30pm on Thursday and stayed in that range until 3am on Friday with westerly winds of speed 8-10kmph affecting the area, according to IMD.
IMD defines “shallow” fog in a region when visibility drops to 500-1,000m, “moderate” fog when visibility is 200-500m, “dense” fog when visibility is 50-200m, and “very dense” when visibility dips to 50m or lower.
“Visibility at Palam improved to 50m by 7.30 am, 100m by 8.30 am, 300 m by 9am and 500m by 9.30am. Westerlies 10kmph prevailed in the region. The visibility over Safdarjung remained 200m since 1.30 am aided by calm winds, and gradually improved in the later half of the day,” said an IMD official.
Airport authorities said no flights were cancelled or diverted.
IMD initially issued an orange alert for Friday, warning people about dense to very dense fog but as conditions improved over the day, they changed the alert to yellow and then green in the latter half of the day. A yellow alert has been issued for Saturday, warning people of a dense to very dense fog in the early hours. A moderate fog has been forecast for Sunday but no alerts have been issued.
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