On Tuesday evening, Delhi Police inspected vehicles to make sure Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was being carried out correctly.

With the exception of those used for vital services, Delhi-registered BS-IV and older diesel-powered medium goods trucks (MGVs) and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are prohibited from operating under GRAP Stage IV.

Due to declining air quality in Delhi-NCR, Stage IV of GRAP has been in place since 8:00 AM on November 18.

In a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Tuesday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai urged him to call an urgent meeting with the Delhi government, IIT Kanpur, and central government agencies like the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the DGCA. The purpose of the gathering would be to talk about the urgent need to deploy cloud seeding.

“The time has come to implement artificial rainfall in order to break the smog layer,” Rai said. The Delhi Government investigated cloud seeding as an emergency option to provide rain and lower air pollution at crucial times last year in partnership with IIT Kanpur. We started getting ready for cloud seeding this year in August, but a meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet in spite of several requests.”

He emphasized that in order to successfully reduce pollution, the smog layer has to disperse. Rai went on, “We’re working on this all the time. Both BS-III gasoline four-wheelers and BS-IV diesel vehicles are prohibited. Additionally, all diesel buses and trucks arriving from outside Delhi are prohibited. Class 10 and Class 12 schools have been closed. The office hours have been changed.

We are considering our options and will make a decision shortly on work-from-home policies. Everything that we can is being implemented, and we will keep doing so. The smog layer must be broken.

Since the Air Quality Index (AQI) is still in the “severe” range, the Supreme Court ordered Delhi and the other governments of the National Capital Region (NCR) to rigorously execute GRAP Stage IV anti-pollution measures from Monday.

The Delhi-NCR states were also directed by a panel of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih to establish teams right away to oversee and implement GRAP-compliant measures. The court went on to say that even in the event that the AQI drops below 450, GRAP Stage IV measures must be maintained. It instructed the federal government and the NCR states to submit compliance affidavits.