00:00India celebrated the victory of good over evil yesterday on the occasion of the Shaira.
00:06Ravan was burned, Nekhnath was burned, Kumbh Karan was burned, even the cockroaches were burned.
00:12But the celebrations have come to a serious halt and at a serious cost.
00:17The air that Delhiites are now breathing today has turned toxic.
00:22Delhi's air quality has deteriorated sharply in the aftermath of the Shaira.
00:28According to AQI.in, the air quality index peaked at 216 on the day of the Shaira.
00:33And today, with effects settling in, all those effigies burning, multiple of them across the national capital region,
00:40the AQI shot up to 291 in the morning hours today.
00:46And this is only the beginning of the same old story capital lives every year.
00:50With the air pollution levels rising, the Commission of Air Quality Management has invoked
00:55Stage 1 of the Graded Response Action Plan, or GRAP, as we all have come to know it as.
01:02GRAP 1 has been enforced all across Delhi NCR.
01:07And according to CAQM order, Delhi AQI stood at 179 in the moderate category on October 20th,
01:13before rising to 244 at around 2pm today, which triggered GRAP 1.
01:21Now, following the review of the prevailing pollution solutions,
01:25in fact, the situation at the moment in the weather forecast,
01:27the GRAP subcommittee directed agencies across the national capital region to implement Stage 1.
01:32These measures focus on strengthening dust control at construction sites, checking road dust,
01:39ensuring proper waste management, and tightening enforcement against polluting activities.
01:45Authorities have been asked to maintain strict vigilance, intensify pollution control measures,
01:49and regularly monitor air quality to prevent any further deterioration.
01:55GRAP 1, remember, has been enforced a day after Delhi
01:58chief minister unveiled the capital's winter pollution plan. The proposed measures include
02:04strict enforcement of the no-PUC, no-fuel policy restrictions have been put on no-BS6 vehicles
02:11entering Delhi from outside the capital and AI-powered cameras to monitor construction dust.
02:16But does this really work if we continue to burn effigies on the ground?
02:21The government is also emphasising 50 per cent work from home and promoting
02:25buses and metros and last-mile connectivity to reduce dependence on private vehicles,
02:30especially in this festive season when everybody is out on the road, traffic jams are peaking,
02:36and more and more vehicles will be seen on the road in the days to come.
02:42Delhi's Environment Minister, Majinder Singh Sirsa, spoke about it.
02:48वर उनाजायां ज। पिछले तीन चार सालों की मैं बात कहूं,
02:52तो आज GRAP 1 इन्वोक किया गया है, ये अब तक का सबसे
02:58कम, सबसे ज्यादा समय बाद, मतलब सबसे लास टेज़ पर
03:04He has got a grip and now he has got a grip.
03:06Because it was very early, it was very early.
03:08But even since we've got a grip of the grip in the past few years,
03:14it was very early.
03:15It got very late.
