Overview
- CAQM invoked Stage III across the NCR after Delhi’s average AQI jumped from 362 on Monday to around 425 on Tuesday, with multiple stations topping 450.
- Data from CPCB’s Sameer app showed widespread ‘severe’ readings, including Bawana at 462, Wazirpur at 460, and Punjabi Bagh and Mundka at 452.
- Stage III adds immediate curbs to existing measures, staying in place until sustained improvement, according to the commission’s order.
- Non-essential construction and demolition are halted, stone crushers and mining are shut, while essential public works such as rail, metro and airports continue under strict dust controls.
- Vehicle curbs ban BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida with disability exemptions, tighten rules on certain goods carriers and diesel buses, and shift schooling up to Class 5 to hybrid with advisories for work-from-home and staggered public office timings; a prior monitoring outage on Monday had complicated the timing of action.