Delhi-NCR Air Quality & GRAP

Every winter, Delhi-NCR's air slides into the 'severe' zone and an emergency rulebook switches on. That rulebook is GRAP - the Graded Response Action Plan run by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the statutory body for the National Capital Region. GRAP ratchets up curbs across four stages pegged to Delhi's Air Quality Index, from dust control and diesel-genset limits through construction bans and office rationing. Before winter 2025-26 CAQM tightened the schedule so curbs bite earlier, and through December the stages were switched on and off as pollution and weather swung.