Report flags construction at many officials' houses amid Delhi pollution curbs

Delhi Pollution: The report by the court commissioners, submitted to the Supreme Court and exclusively accessed by India Today, highlights glaring lapses in implementation of stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

In Short

• Report submitted to Supreme Court flags lapses in GRAP 4 implementation
• Report mentions instances of ongoing construction, industrial emissions
• Mentions lack of CCTV cameras at key Delhi-Noida border

A report by Supreme Court-appointed court commissioners has flagged construction work being carried out at residences of several government officials despite a ban under anti-pollution measures in place in Delhi. The report, submitted to the top court on Thursday and exclusively accessed by India Today, highlights glaring lapses in implementation of stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The report mentions instances of ongoing construction, waste burning, and emissions from industrial units. Advocate Manan Verma, one of the court commissioners, mentions how construction and renovation work is taking place at the residences of various senior officials of HUDCO, BHEL, RITES, HAL, and ITPO in the Asian Games Village.

He also points at rampant construction work going on at various colonies in Delhi, and large scale construction in Greater Noida. Construction materials were found lying uncovered in several areas in Delhi and neighbouring NCR cities.

GRAP-4 entails a ban on non-essential construction activities and entry of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers.

The report mentions that factories in Greater Noida's Site-C are emitting large amounts of smoke, and open waste burning was observed in Greater Noida's Ecotech 1 Extension and Gurugram's New Palam Vihar Phase 1. The report said that these practices were contributing significantly to air pollution.

Advocates Abhinav Aggarwal and Manisha Chava, in their report, pointed out that the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway, a critical border point, did not have a single CCTV camera. Additionally, many border checkpoints did not have any officials or volunteers from the Delhi government. The report said there was a need to assist the Delhi Police with the inspection of vehicles.

Calling it a "problematic issue", the court commissioners said once a challan was issued against a particular vehicle in a day, it enables it to freely move without further challans. However, officers have intimated that in such a scenario they would impound the vehicle.

Advocate Srishti Mishra, in her report, mentioned that only two water sprinklers were deployed across Siri Fort, Panchsheel, and Kotla in Delhi, with just one driver assigned to them. The report recommends increasing both the number of sprinklers and personnel to effectively control the spread of dust.

The report also makes certain recommendations to tackle the flouting of rules, including initiating contempt proceedings against defaulting officers. It calls for installation of CCTVs at all major and minor checkpoints for better surveillance.

Advocates Jatin Kumar and Savi Nagpal, who visited various entry points near Rajokri and Jaffarpur border, which comprise the South West entry point of Delhi, pointed to lack of instructions with regard to the challaning of vehicles among traffic personnel. They flagged a dearth of challaning machines with the traffic police officials.