With the air quality deteriorating to ‘severe’ levels in the national capital region and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) banning construction activities in Delhi NCR under the stage-III of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), real estate developers said that the move would delay housing and commercial projects and squeeze timelines for delivery.
Builders said that although measures are necessary from an environmental standpoint, the blanket nature of the ban places undue strain on developers and affect homebuyers too. They said that one-month ban on construction activities, on an average, delay a project by two to three months.
Under GRAP-III, the central government has prohibited nearly all non-essential structural construction and demolition work in affected areas — including piling, drilling, excavation, material transport and on-site concrete batching — except for infrastructure projects deemed essential.
GRAP-III also advocates closing down operations of stone crushers and mining activities in the entire NCR. Strict restrictions on plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel LMVs (four wheelers) in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budhh Nagar (Noida).
Delhi's AQI stood at 428 at 4 pm on November 11, 2025. The GRAP action depends on four stages of pollution: Stage I — 'poor' (AQI 201-300); Stage II — 'very poor' (AQI 301-400); Stage III — 'severe' (AQI 401-450); and Stage IV — 'severe plus' (AQI above 450).
Dinesh Gupta, President CREDAI West UP, said that the industry is not against environmental action, but it needs a sustainable policy framework.
“Yearly shutdowns impact the overall housing supply and delay possession timelines, directly affecting homebuyers. A long-term, technology-driven pollution mitigation plan would be more effective than temporary bans,” he said.
Implications for developers and workers
Market observers said that developers face rising costs due to idle work force, idle equipment and remobilization of logistics after the ban is lifted. Since many construction workers are migrants, a stoppage often means longer return-to-site times and further delay.
Workers in the informal construction segment bear immediate brunt: a halt in construction means loss of daily wages and diverted livelihoods.
Praveen Jain, President, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), said that government should allow those construction activities that generate relatively low pollution and dust emissions, provided they comply with C&D waste management regulations.
“Projects registered under RERA already follow strict environmental standards and should be permitted to proceed as essential construction activities under proper supervision. Allowing these regulated projects to continue under careful monitoring will help strike a balance between public health needs and economic priorities, reduce project delays, and ensure adherence to environmental safeguards,” he said.
Pawan Sharma, Managing Director, TRG Group, said that the blanket ban on construction activities during GRAP-III presents significant implementation challenges. Even short-term halts disrupt labour availability, material supply chains, and on-site coordination — all of which lead to cascading delays that affect project delivery timelines and costs.
“Homebuyers in this region expect predictability in delivery schedules, and such disruptions make it difficult to maintain that assurance. A more calibrated policy approach one that allows low-emission construction activities under strict environmental monitoring could strike a fair balance between sustainability goals and the region’s pressing housing requirements,” he said.
Himanshu Garg, Director RG Group said that while the developers fully support the government’s efforts to control pollution, the blanket construction ban under GRAP-III would certainly impact project timelines. “Even a short halt of 15–20 days can push delivery schedules by months, given the interlinked nature of construction activities,” he said.
Possible way-out
They demanded that the authorities should adopt a case-by-case approach when implementing air pollution regulations and control vehicular emissions and roadside dust, which are one of the main sources of pollution.
Jain said that a study conducted by NAREDCO Haryana in collaboration with IIT Delhi for GRAP Stage III and IV has provided several practical recommendations that can be implemented in Delhi-NCR to enable construction activities without causing significant pollution.
These include adopting aluminum shuttering, promoting monolithic construction techniques that produce significantly less debris compared to traditional methods, using hydraulic rebar cutters instead of abrasive saw cutters for reinforced bars, and allowing painting and related activities to continue since their contribution to pollution was found to be less than 11 percent.
Homebuyers’ take
Homebuyers are concerned about delivery timelines, particularly in RERA-registered projects where delays trigger penalties for developers.
Rahul Vaishnav, a Noida-based homebuyer, said that while pollution control measures are necessary, a blanket construction ban could end up hurting homebuyers by further delaying already overdue projects.
“I have invested in an under-construction project in Greater Noida and that’s already behind schedule. With this ban, the wait for possession will only get longer,” he said.
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