'Heating spots', signal-free roads: What all is new in Delhi's winter pollution plan?

The old and some new make up the Delhi government's annual measures. The test will be what works on the groundEvery year, by September-end, Delhi enters into an elaborate, and by now very familiar, dance with the winter air. Action plans and enforcement teams are put in place. Sweeping and sprinkling of roads gather pace. Construction sites come to a standstill. Traffic curbs kick in. Parking fees is hiked. After that, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)—a set of emergency anti-pollution measures—moves through its four stages as air quality plummets.It’s perhaps hard to find something new to do after over a decade’s worth of repeats. But Delhi’s BJP government, in its pollution mitigation plan for this winter, has managed to find one: ‘heating spots’.It’s more of a flip of the city’s summer attempt. The government’s Heat Action Plan 2026 had featured the installation of misting systems at bus stops as well as other cooling relief plans. The opposite will be the focus in winter.As part of a ‘Zero Burning’ initiative on waste, the government wants heating arrangements created at the level of RWAs (resident welfare associations) and market associations for workers required to be outside at night. The logic is that those who do not have access to a heating mechanism are likely to burn wood, leaves or waste to keep themselves warm. The government hopes the heating spots will keep these citizens warm and do away with one small source of the winter smog. Of course, there’s also the easier stuff of Delhi’s winter survival guidelines. The ‘No PUCC, No Fuel’ initiative will begin on October 1 at 500 gas stations around the city. Non-BS-VI vehicles will not be permitted to run from November 1 till January 31, except for exempted categories. From November 1 till February 28, parking fees will be doubled, except at Delhi Metro complexes. Bans on construction and demolition will be in force from December 10 to January 20.Then, work from home. Government and private offices are to keep only 50 per cent of their staff working from offices between November 1 and January 31. Delhi’s pollution calendar now has an addition that reminds of the pandemic: whenever the air turns bad enough, half the office operates from home.Delhi has also identified 15 road stretches to be rendered signal-free, which is expected to help alleviate congestion and vehicular emissions from the constant halting/idling. The government says eight stretches have been finished and the remaining are aimed for completion by October.These stretches could be some of the only tangible measures that will stay relevant once the winter smog has lifted. The signal-free corridors were part of a larger programme discussed at the Centre’s level earlier this year, and now authorities are seeking to identify and create them.Delhi is also going the extra mile to measure what it’s breathing. The network of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) is growing from 47 to 60 while 334 stations for monitoring and enforcing compliance are being established, along with an AI-based command and control centre.Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa has termed the city’s pollution-monitoring network as the most robust among major cities of the country. There’s something to that claim. With 46 stations, Delhi is already the city with the highest number of stations continuously monitoring air quality. The expansion to 60 CAAQMS targets the availability of one monitor per 25 sq. km.But questions have arisen over the location of these monitors. Assessments have revealed over-representation in central and southern parts of the national capital and under-representation towards the periphery. The targeted expansion could partially help plug those monitoring gaps.With all that has been done over the years to improve Delhi’s air quality—construction bans, vehicular restrictions, water sprinkling, anti-smog guns, GRAP—the question to ask is whether the air is actually getting cleaner. The answer is yes, but in a very uneven and slow manner, accompanied by a large winter asterisk.Delhi’s annual average AQI (air quality index) was 225 in 2018 and 215 in 2019. Leaving aside the Covid pandemic-affected 2020, it stood at 209 in 2021, 209 again in 2022, improved to 204 in 2023, slipped back to 209 in 2024 and reached 201 in 2025, which is the best annual figure since 2018.The same applies to particulate matter (PM). In 2018, the annual average of PM2.5 (very fine particulate matter that poses grave health risks) was 113 micrograms per cubic metre. It declined to 107 in 2019, measured 105 in 2021, 98 in 2022, 100 in 2023, 104 in 2024 and 96 in 2025. PM10 fell from 241 micrograms per cubic metre in 2018 to 197 in 2025.There have been other benefits. Delhi had 53 ‘Good’ or ‘Satisfactory’ air days in 2018. That rose to 61 in 2019, 73 in 2021, was 68 in 2022, 61 in 2023, 66 in 2024 and 79 last year. ‘Severe’ and ‘Severe+’ days numbered 20 in 2018, 24 in 2019 and 24 again in 2021. In 2025, there were eight such days.Consider just those numbers and the years of intervention seem to be making a difference. But examine winter and the celebration gets harder. November’s average AQI was 335 in 2018 and 312 in 2019. It was 377 in 2021, 321 in 2022, 373 in 2023, 374 in 2024 and 354 last year.December has been even more stubborn: 360 in 2018, 337 in 2019, 336 in 2021, 319 in 2022, 348 in 2023, 294 in 2024 and 351 in 2025. So, despite all the best plans laid, Delhi last December had an average AQI just nine points lower than in December 2018.The government points out that the unusually calm or slow wind speed and adverse climatic conditions contributed to the average AQI of December 2025. Even in January 2024, the average AQI was very high at 355 and it was with very low wind speed. The government’s argument is that Delhi cannot solve the problem on its own.The city’s pollution-mitigation assessment puts the proportion of pollution created within its boundaries at around 30 per cent, with a proportion of 60-65 per cent coming from outside the city and a few per cent being impacted by outside factors. These are government estimates and not a fixed allocation of the pollution in Delhi since the source apportionments vary greatly from one season to the next.“Air pollution has no borders,” Sirsa said in the statement issued by the Delhi government on September 28. Delhi is working on all its pollution sources but a major chunk of air contamination is from the neighbouring areas.There’s another change in the plan this year. The government is attempting to create a “predictable calendar” from an annual scramble. Pollution is now being mitigated from year to year, instead of only when it gets bad enough to warrant closure of facilities, restrictions or bans. GRAP will remain in effect and take increasingly restrictive action as AQI continues to rise.Sirsa says the strategy is designed to be proactive this time, adding that government departments will be held accountable and that he will personally supervise implementation of the measures . He has also requested citizens to use public transport, get their vehicles pollution tested, not burn waste and report violations.And so the annual dance begins. Sprinklers were in place in the summer. There will be heating spots during winter. Sixty monitors will check air quality, 334 teams will police them. Hiked parking fees will presumably deter vehicles on roads, work from home guidelines will reduce commuting, and there will be weeks together when Delhi stops building and demolishing.And when it’s all over, there may be fewer traffic signals on 15 road stretches—a durable gain for motorists if not an enduring breathable air.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends