Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will make 40 additional trips due to implementation of stage II of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). These trips will be run on weekdays across DMRC‘s network starting Wednesday. Environment minister Gopal Rai had on Monday asked DMRC to augment services and decrease the waiting time for trains.
“As part of the various measures being adopted by the Delhi government to combat pollution under GRAP-II stage, DMRC will be running 40 additional train trips on weekdays (Monday-Friday) across its network starting Wednesday. This has been planned to intensify the use of public transport among passengers across Delhi-NCR,” said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, DMRC. He added that over 4,300 trips are usually performed by Delhi Metro trains every day.
The Commission for Air Quality Management in national capital region and adjoining areas (CAQM) on Saturday had implemented measures under stage II of GRAP. Under this stage, Metro, CNG and electric buses are augmented in NCR by increasing their frequency and inducting new fleets. The step is taken to deal with vehicular pollution and to encourage people to use public transport.
As part of the citizen’s charter, which is a list of voluntary steps that can be taken by the public to help in reducing pollution, CAQM has appealed to people to minimise the use of personal vehicles. It has requested the public to use technology and take less congested routes.
The stage II of GRAP is enforced when air quality is forecast to enter ‘very poor’ category with AQI surpassing 300. Delhi’s AQI was 313 on Sunday, but it improved to ‘poor’ category on Monday and Tuesday. However, it is again predicted to turn ‘very poor’ on Wednesday.
According to source apportionment study carried out by The Energy and Resources Institute and Automotive Research Association of India in 2018, the contribution of transport to PM2.5 in Delhi’s air is 39% and NCR’s air is 13%. Transport contributes to 19% to Delhi’s PM10 and 7% to NCR’s PM10.
To reduce vehicular pollution, CAQM had earlier said from November 1 this year, all buses originating from NCR districts in the respective states and plying to Delhi should be EV or CNG mode or diesel VI vehicle.
