What does the government do? GRAP, CAQM and NCAP

Delhi's air is governed by three different instruments: an emergency plan that switches on as the AQI rises (GRAP), a commission with the legal power to enforce it across the region (CAQM), and a slower national programme that funds cities to cut pollution over years (NCAP).

This chapter goes out of date. GRAP's schedule is revised often, usually just before or during the winter season. Everything below reflects the schedule revised on 29 September 2026.¹ Check caqm.nic.in for the current version. This page is reviewed every October.

What is CAQM?

The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas was given statutory form by a 2021 Act of Parliament, passed by the Lok Sabha on 4 August and the Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2021.² It coordinates air-pollution action across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and its powers include restricting polluting activities, issuing binding directions and investigating violations. The Act dissolved the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, set up in the NCR in 1998.² Appeals against CAQM's orders go to the National Green Tribunal.²

What are the GRAP stages?

The Graded Response Action Plan is a schedule of actions tied to Delhi's average AQI. Each stage adds to the stages before it.¹

A few representative actions from the schedule, by stage:¹

• Stage I (Poor). Dust control at construction and demolition sites, more road sweeping and water sprinkling, no open burning of biomass or waste, enforcement of pollution-under-control (PUC) norms and of the ban on overaged vehicles, limits on diesel generator use, and a ban on coal and firewood in tandoors.
• Stage II (Very Poor). Daily mechanised sweeping, higher parking fees to discourage private vehicles, staggered timings for public offices, and electric heaters for outdoor staff of housing societies so that they don't burn fuel for warmth.
• Stage III (Severe). Most dust-generating construction stopped across the NCR (with exceptions for projects such as metro, railway, airports and hospitals), stone crushers and mining closed, BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel cars restricted in Delhi and nearby high-traffic districts, hybrid classes for young children, and offices allowed to run at half strength.
• Stage IV (Severe+). Entry of most diesel trucks into Delhi stopped (LNG, CNG, electric and BS-VI diesel excepted), the construction ban extended to linear public projects such as highways and pipelines, hybrid classes for most school years, and states asked to consider emergency steps such as closing colleges or odd-even vehicle rules.

When does a stage switch on?

Not only when the AQI crosses a line. The schedule says actions are to be invoked in advance, before the AQI reaches a stage's range, when forecasts suggest high levels will persist; and if an extreme weather event or episode pushes the AQI past a threshold without warning, the measures that can be applied immediately take effect.¹

The schedule also moves measures between stages from year to year. In November 2025, CAQM moved four measures from Stage II down to Stage I, including uninterrupted power supply to reduce diesel-generator use and public pollution alerts, and moved staggered office timings from Stage III to II and half-strength offices from Stage IV to III.³ That is the main reason to check the current schedule rather than rely on last winter's news.

What is the National Clean Air Programme?

NCAP is the Union environment ministry's national programme, launched in 2019. It covers 131 cities in 24 states, each with its own city action plan.⁴ Its target was first a 20–30% cut in PM10 by 2024–25 against a 2017–18 baseline; that was revised to a reduction of up to 40%, or meeting the national PM10 standard of 60 µg/m³, by 2025–26.⁴ The ministry reports ₹19,614.44 crore earmarked for 2019–20 to 2025–26, with ₹11,211.13 crore released by September 2024, linked partly to city performance and tracked on a portal called PRANA.⁴

By the ministry's account, 95 of the 131 cities had lower annual PM10 in 2023–24 than in 2017–18, and 18 met the national PM10 standard.⁴ These are the ministry's own figures.

What is contested?

The target pollutant. NCAP's targets are written for PM10, not PM2.5.⁴ PM10 includes coarse dust, which road sweeping and water sprinkling address; much of Delhi's worst winter pollution is finer combustion and secondary particles (see Where does Delhi's pollution come from?). A city can make progress on one without much progress on the other.

The trigger. GRAP is, by design, a response plan: its stages follow the AQI rather than the sources behind it. Its own move towards forecast-based, advance invocation is an acknowledgement that responding after the AQI rises is late.¹

The measurement. GRAP stages are triggered by the city-wide average of monitoring stations, a method CPCB itself calls not scientifically sound, used for simplicity.⁵ Station siting has been questioned too.⁶