The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) withdrew Stage-II restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR following an improvement in air quality, officials said.
“The AQI of Delhi has shown improvement owing to favourable meteorological conditions and has been recorded 214 at 4 p.m. today. Further, the forecast by IMD/ IITM indicates that AQI is likely to remain in poor or moderate category in coming days,” a CAQM official stated.
Stage-I and Stage-II measures under GRAP have been in force since October 14 and October 19 last year, respectively.
Rain Brings Marginal Relief
Parts of the national capital witnessed light rain on Wednesday (February 18, 2026). The minimum temperature settled at 15.8°C, which is 4.8 degrees above the season’s average.
Despite the improvement, Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘poor’ category earlier in the day. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 227 at 9 AM.
How AQI Is Classified
The CPCB categorises AQI levels as follows:
- 0 to 50: ‘Good’
- 51 to 100: ‘Satisfactory’
- 101 to 200: ‘Moderate’
- 201 to 300: ‘Poor’
- 301 to 400: ‘Very Poor’
- 401 to 500: ‘Severe’