As per the Commission for Air Quality Management (), the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has been revised for the Delhi-NCR region and adjoining areas.
Some of the changes include restrictions on the plying of and BS-IV diesel or below-standard LMVs (four-wheelers) to Sonipat in Haryana under GRAP-3.
These restrictions were earlier restricted to areas like Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar.
These modifications were approved during the CAQM’s 30th meeting on 28th September, Monday, and were announced the following day. The last time such alterations were made in the GRAP framework was in November 2025.
As per the latest changes announced by the CAQM, no inter-city or inter-state buses, except for EV, CNG, BS-VI diesel ones, from any place in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and adjoining states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir will be given the permission to enter Delhi-NCR under GRAP-1. Earlier these measures were taken under GRAP-2.
Besides this, the exemption that was granted to BS-IV and below goods vehicles carrying essential commodities under GRAP-3 and GRAP-4 has been removed.
Directions 11 to 18, which were issued in 2021 for the NCR, have also been amended by the CAQM. These directions are related to construction and demolition activities that fall within the territorial jurisdiction of urban bodies or municipal areas of the NCR.
For example, they established an online monitoring mechanism through a web portal, and mandated registration of construction and demolition projects with plot area equal to or greater than 500 square metres.
Now, directions 11 to 18 have been extended to urban areas, controlled areas, development areas or industrial development areas, industrial areas or zones, and highway corridor zones in the NCR states.
GRAP is a set of emergency measures that kick in to prevent air quality further deteriorating once it touches a particular threshold. GRAP-1, which is the first stage, comes into effect when the is between 201 and 300. GRAP-2, which is the second stage, comes into effect when the AQI is between 301 and 400. GRAP-3 comes into effect when the AQI is 401 to 450, and GRAP-4 comes into effect when the AQI goes beyond 450.
