The Delhi government has banned the use of BS3 petrol and BS4 diesel vehicles with immediate effect due to increased pollution levels. The national capital is once again facing severe air quality issues because of increased environmental pollution in the Delhi-NCR region. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has reimposed anti-pollution measures under the GRAP-III guidelines. Now all non-essential construction activities and the plying of BS3 petrol and BS4 diesel vehicles has been banned in the national capital.
The Delhi Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, said, “The pollutant particles are frozen due to the decreasing temperature. Two days ago, when there was wind and sunlight, the pollution had decreased. But yesterday the pollution seemed high, owing to that CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) implemented the GRAP-3 rule. Since yesterday, there has been no sunlight and wind due to which we have implemented Grap-3. We are hopeful the situation will improve soon."
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The CAQM has imposed a ban on these vehicles for the third time now. The heavily overloaded trucks and BS3 and BS4 emission vehicles have now been prohibited from plying in the national capital region, incorporating cities such as Delhi, Faridabad, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, and Noida.
Delhi is also facing severe cold conditions besides the increased pollution levels, as the minimum temperature in the city has dropped to 3.5 degrees Celsius in the last three days. On Sunday, at the IGI Airport, zero visibility was recorded at 5 a.m., which is the longest duration of dense fog in this winter season. The India Meteorological Department has announced that the national capital is likely to experience cold waves and dense fog from January 14 to January 20.
