New Delhi (PTI): Delhi woke up to GRAP Stage III restrictions on Friday, as the city's air quality remained in the 'severe' category for the third consecutive day, prompting strict measures to curb pollution levels.
According to the Sameer aap , the Air Quality Index at 9 am was recorded in the 'severe' category (400 to 500), with a reading of 411.
The CAQM imposed GRAP Stage III as the national capital recorded the worst pollution levels in the country, with the air quality remaining in the 'severe' category for two consecutive days.
Prior to entering the 'severe' category, Delhi's air quality had been in the 'very poor ' range for 14 consecutive days.
It directed the authorities in Delhi-NCR to invoke curbs under stage III of the anti-pollution plan with immediate effect.
Curbs under Stage III include a ban on non-essential construction and demolition, closure of stone crushers and mining activities in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).
Under the Stage-IV restrictions of GRAP, all inter-state buses from NCR states 'except electric vehicles, CNG vehicles and BS-VI diesel buses' will be prohibited from entering Delhi, alongside a stringent ban on construction and demolition activities, suspension of mining-related activities, consideration of shifting to online classes for students up to Class V and daily water sprinkling on major roads.
Meanwhile, out of 39 monitoring stations in Delhi, a total of 27 stations recorded air quality in the 'severe' category, with readings above 400.
These stations include Alipur, Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Aya Nagar, Bawana, CRRI Mathura Road, IGI Airport, ITO, Jahangirpuri, Mandir Marg, Mundka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar, North Campus, Okhla Phase 2, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, Pusa, RK Puram, Rohini, and several others.
The city recorded its lowest minimum temperature (night time temperature) of the season at 15.6 degree Celsius, 2.6 notches above normal, according to the weather department.
The night time temperature on Thursday was recorded at 16.1°C, the second highest of the season so far. A thick veil of fog blanketed the city, reducing visibility at Safdarjung to 400 meters at 7 am on Friday.
Humidity was recorded at 98 per cent at 8:30 am.
The weather department has forecast very dense fog for the day, with the maximum temperature expected to settle at 29 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, Delhi's air quality has been recorded as the worst in the country for the past two days.
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Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
