NEW DELHI: Delhi might see a complete clamp down on vehicular movement, construction work and a fourfold spike in parking fees if pollution levels in the city shoot up to dangerous levels.
The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), a committee constituted by the Central government following a Supreme Court order in 1998, on Tuesday announced a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which consists of recommendations in this regard.
The plan is divided into four categories depending on air quality classification — poor, very poor, severe and severe plus. The action plan for ‘very poor’ category is already on from Tuesday, when the pollution level in the city was 276 AQI (Air Quality Index), which falls under that category.
As part of the immediate action plan, use of diesel generators has been banned in the city, except in hospitals. The Badarpur power plant, which was a major cause of pollution, will also be shut down. The local civic agencies will be directed to increase parking fees up to four times.
The GRAP, announced by EPCA chairman Bhure Lal and member Sunita Narain following a review meeting, has also recommended reintroduction of car-rationalising ‘odd-even’ policy among many other measures to control smog, if pollution in Delhi’s air escalates to ‘severe plus’ category.
Narain said parking fee may have to be hiked in Delhi, despite the fact that a parking policy is still being worked out. If air pollution aggravates further and touches alarming proportions, “cars will have to be off the roads”.Meanwhile, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has said that it expects the air in the capital to be dangerous on October 20 and 21, post Diwali.