NEW DELHI: Following a sharp decline in regional air quality into the severe category, the Commission for Air Quality Management implemented Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan across the National Capital Region with immediate effect. Unfavorable winter weather patterns, plummeting wind velocities, and persistent vehicular and seasonal emissions have driven atmospheric particulate concentrations to critical levels.
Under Stage III directives, all non-essential construction, demolition, and mining activities across the capital and neighboring satellite towns have been placed under complete prohibition. Regional transport departments have restricted the entry and operation of polluting heavy commercial carriers, alongside BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel light motor vehicles, backed by rigorous traffic checkpoints and steep regulatory fines. Civic municipal corporations have intensified mechanised vacuum sweeping and targeted water-sprinkling runs across vulnerable transit corridors to suppress dust resurgence.
Healthcare institutions and pulmonologists have issued urgent public advisories urging vulnerable populations,particularly children, elderly individuals, and those with underlying cardiac or pulmonary conditions, to curtail outdoor physical activity and wear protective filtration masks. Environmental authorities have further appealed to citizens to maximize the utilization of public transport networks to mitigate surface vehicular congestion.