New Delhi, Dec. 13 -- As Delhi's air quality slipped to the severe category, Graded Response Action Plan 3 (GRAP 3) measures were rolled out across the national capital and neighbouring cities by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Saturday.

Low wind speeds over the past three days have sharply worsened Delhi's air quality, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) rising from 259 ('Poor') on December 10 to 307 ('Very Poor') on December 11, and further to 349 ('Very Poor') on December 12. The deteriorating conditions pushed air quality into the 'severe' category during the early hours of Saturday.

Noting the sharp increasing trend of pollutants with the persistence of unfavourable weather conditions, in the coming days, the polluti...