The Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan 2026-27, aimed to tackle seasonal air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), has introduced a slew of measures.
These include a “No PUCC, No Fuel” campaign, entry bans on non-BS-VI vehicles, phased construction bans, doubled parking fees, staggered office timings, and AI-enabled Command and Control monitoring.
The Winter Action Plan brings several necessary measures, but most are already part of GRAP and have been announced before.” Kandhari explains, “Delhi does not need another winter ritual of announcing restrictions, it needs to see them enforced on the ground.
The winter action plan looks at a multi-agency coordination across the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Police, and local municipal bodies.
Mechanised sweeping, water sprinkling across major roads, road redevelopments, weekly hotspot inspections, sealing of polluting industrial units, and real-time monitoring via an AI Command Centre, are also part of the plan. several activists and environmentalists have hit out, criticising the plan While the policy was rolled out a week ago by the ministry. Environmentalist Bhavreen Kandhari points out that most measures simply rehash existing provisions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) without solving non-compliance. Hitting out at the government, Kandhari points at how the problem is perpetual and not a one-time thing. “Winter pollution is not created in winter. Emissions accumulate through the year, and by October-November we are simply seeing the consequences. A Winter Action Plan can set the direction, but unless every agency is given clear responsibility, strength, training, equipment, measurable targets and consequences for failure, we will once again be managing the symptoms of a crisis rather than eliminating its sources.”
The government must therefore move from seasonal crisis management to continuous source reduction, transparent data and time bound accountability across the NCR airshed. The plan further recommends 50 per cent work-from-home or two WFH days weekly, staggered government/MCD office hours, doubled parking fees, and targets to scale metro ridership.
