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Informist, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Thursday said that stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan will remain in place in Delhi till Monday. In the meantime, the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi-National Capital Region and adjoining areas will hold a meeting and come out with suggestions about moving from stage IV to stage III or II, said the court.

 

"We also make it clear that it is not necessary that all measures which are provided in GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) IV should be dispensed with. There can be a combination of measures in GRAP III and GRAP II," said the Bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih. The suggestions with reasons shall be placed before the court on Monday, the bench added.

 

The Graded Response Action Plan is a set of guidelines to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR based on the Air Quality Index. Restrictions under Stage-I are activated when the Air Quality Index is between 201 and 300, whereas those under Stage-II are enforced when the index ranges between 301 and 400. Stage-III is invoked when the index lies between 401 and 450, and Stage-IV is implemented when the index reading is more than 450.

 

The Bench said that according to reports provided by the court commissioners, there was "abject failure" on part of the authorities in implementing stage IV measures in Delhi. The court asked the Delhi government and other national capital region states to give their responses on the measures they propose to take against the breaches as pointed out by the commissioners.

 

With regard to the ban on certain trucks entering Delhi, the top court said that there was "complete failure" by the authorities and "police were nowhere in the picture". "The immediate issue which needs to be addressed is that the trucks are allowed to enter the limits of Delhi and then after travelling some distance they are taking a U-turn back to from where they have arrived. This issue also needs to be addressed," said the court.

 

The apex court said it will continue to hear the matter relating to air pollution in detail with the objective of finding a long-term solution to the crisis. The court said that the issues like stubble burning, entry of trucks in Delhi and firecrackers ban will be examined. As of 1600 IST, the 24-hour average Air Quality Index for Delhi was at 325 and was in the "very poor" category, according to Central Pollution Control Board data. 

 

The court was hearing a case relating to rising air pollution in Delhi-NCR and to agricultural stubble burning in neighbouring states. The court, on Thursday, said that its attention was drawn to a news on India Today on Wednesday, which stated that an officer and others had admitted that they were advising farmers to burn the stubble after 1600 IST to avoid satellite detection. "We are not on the correctness of this news but if it is correct it is very serious," said the court.

 

The apex court said that the state officials cannot permit any farmer to take advantage of the fact that at present stubble burning activities were being detected during a few hours of the day. The government should immediately issue instructions to all officers not to indulge in any such activities, said the court. "We must have a machinery in place which can send us 24x7 data of stubble burning. That is the root problem you see and that is why this problem is arising...And states are very slow in taking action against the farmers," the court added.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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