Delhi falls into Red Zone, severe air pollution spreads

Supreme Court pulls up Centre for ‘Toothless' laws

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

People of India's National Capital Delhi rose to see the city covered in such a suffocating thick layer of smog that almost all weather-monitoring stations fell into the red zone in the morning on October 23, 2024. With it more areas moved into severe levels of air pollution. By noon, the Supreme Court of India pulled up the Centre for framing ‘toothless' environmental laws, apart from criticizing Haryana and Punjab for failing to control stubble burning, one of the chief causes of yearly worsening of air pollution in Delhi.

The Supreme Court while pulling up the Centre for the toothless laws that was framed and enacted without creating required machinery for implementation of the laws to curb air pollution. The apex court said that the CAQM Act on penalty for stubble burning is not being effectively implemented in Haryana and Punjab. In response to such a harsh comment, the Centre has assured the apex court that the regulation on penalty under CAQM Act for stubble burning will be issued in 10 days.

Air Quality Index (AQI) in the morning showed overall air quality in Delhi in the ‘very poor' category with an AQI of 363, while more areas fell into the ‘severe' zone. AQI at Jahangirpuri monitoring station was 418, at Vivek Vihar 407, and at Anand Vihar 402. AQI at Sonia Vihar at 9 AM was close to the ‘severe' category at 398 and at Wazirpur it was 396.

It is worth noting that an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good,' 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory,' 101 to 200 ‘moderate,' 201 to 300 ‘poor,' 301 to 400 ‘very poor,' and 401 to 500 ‘severe.'

With worsening air pollution in Delhi, the city is placed under Stage-II of the anti-pollution measure Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). If it worsens further, more restrictions will be ordered, such as even closure of schools.

Under the GRAP, air pollution control measures are placed in four Stages in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Stage I (poor air quality) focuses on controlling dust at construction sites, waste management, and reducing emissions from industries and power plants. Under Stage II (very poor air quality) restrictions are placed on diesel vehicle use, closure of brick kilns and stone crushers, and a ban on coal and firewood.

Though many areas of Delhi have clearly fallen into Stage III (severe air quality), the government is yet to order restrictions which as per GRAP should have been implemented, which include stronger restrictions on industrial emissions and a complete stop to development works generating pollution.

Under Stage IV (severe plus air quality), it has been planned a complete ban on non-essential commercial activities, including construction and manufacturing, and emergency measures like odd-even vehicle usage, which Delhi have been using for the last few years.

The government of Delhi has so far taken several measures. To control dust, it has been implementing several measures including ban on work and construction sites, sprinkling of water and mechanical sweeping of roads. To curb air pollution the government has urged to limit private vehicle use and opt for public transport. Government has enhanced public transport services and increased parking fees to discourage use of private vehicles.

Use of diesel generators has been banned, except for emergency and essential services. There is also a complete ban on firecrackers in the city even for Diwali festival. The government has ordered synchronizing traffic movements and trying to deploy adequate personnels at intersections of busy roads. In addition to these, public awareness programmes are being run and people are being told about do's and don'ts for every level of pollution.

Nevertheless, pollution seems to be unchecked, and major contributor to the seasonal air pollution every year remains the stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab. Noting the rampant stubble burning in neighbouring states, the Supreme Court of India has pulled up the Centre, on which Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati representing the Centre assured the court that rules would be finalised in 10 days and would be made “fully operational”.

The assurance of the Centre came after the Supreme Court threatened action, “We will take the Union of India to task… it has not created any machinery. The Environmental Protection Act has become toothless. You have got rid of punishment and replaced it with a penalty by amending Section 15 and the procedure to be followed for imposing a penalty cannot be followed.”

ASG Bhati, however, informed the Supreme Court that show-cause notices have been sent to the secretary environment and additional chief secretary agriculture of both the state Haryana and Punjab for violation of the Section five of the CAQM Act.

The Supreme Court has pointed out the politics played in this serious matter even though it threatens the lives of millions. The court said, “If these governments and you (Centre) were seriously ready to safeguard the environment, then everything would have been done before amendment to Section 15. This is all political, nothing else.”

Chief Secretaries of Haryana and Punjab were also present during the hearing. Supreme Court dismissed their submissions for making efforts to control stubble burning as “mere eyewash”.

Not a single prosecution had been made by Punjab, the court noted while pulling up chief secretary of the state. “You must answer why you gave a false statement to the Advocate General of Punjab that a request has been made to Central Government for funds for tractors and diesel for farmers. We will issue contempt. We are not leaving you.”

The Supreme Court told the Chief Secretary of Punjab that around 1,080 FIRs were registered against the violators, but the government collected nominal fines from only 473 people. “You are sparing 600 or more people. We will tell you very frankly that you are giving a signal to violators that nothing will be done against them. This has been for the past three years.”

Haryana's Chief Secretary informed the Supreme Court that 400 crop-burning incidents have been reported and the state has registered 32 FIRs. The top court said that Haryana is taking compensation from few and registering FIR against very few.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice A Amanullah, and Justice AG Masih, grilled the governments – the Centre, Haryana and Punjab – over non-compliance and their failure to enforce anti-pollution measures.

(IPA Service)