Courts and National Green Tribunal on Thursday toughened their stands on air pollution in Delhi and directed the authorities to take up remedial measures to deal with “environmental emergency” like situation. The NGT and the Delhi High Court specifically asked Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to gear up against the alarming situation. The HC described the inaction against air pollution as amounting to “genocide”.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court found it hard to believe that despite the pollution menace dogging Delhi for the past three decades, the agencies responsible for manning pollution never thought it fit to moot a proposal to establish a Centralised Monitoring Centre and additional air monitoring stations in the city.
Terming this approach to be “ad-hoc”, a Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices AK Sikri and SA Bobde said, “Our anguish is that neither the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) nor the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) that were meant to address this issue were groping in the dark without having any plan or idea even as things went out of hand.”
The Bench directed CPCB Chairman SP Singh Parihar to hold a meeting with all necessary stakeholders on November 19 and suggest the court for setting up of the central monitoring unit, additional monitoring stations in Delhi, parameters for fixing satisfactory, moderate, unhealthy and dangerous levels of pollution, and steps required to curb pollution at each level. The CPCB will present its report to the court before November 25, the next date of hearing.
With the matter relating to Delhi’s unclean air also being debated simultaneously in Delhi High Court and National Green Tribunal, the Bench restricted its focus on forming a future roadmap to ensure agencies are not helpless when Delhi is next faced with this situation.
The court told Parihar, “We cannot have a situation where pollution rises to dangerous levels and you have no plan to tackle it. When people are gasping for breath, did it never occur to you once to push your proposal to the Government for setting up more stations in Delhi to monitor the airIJ And even when you get to know that levels of pollution are growing from bad to worse, you sit in your office without being conscious that Delhi is dying and a plan must be in place to tackle it…We see nothing of this sort at your end. Your whole approach to the problem is very ad-hoc.”
On the other hand, the NGT directed the Centre and the States to take various measures to tackle “environment emergency” -- a term coined by it to describe a situation when Particulate Matters (PM 10 and PM 2.50) in the air go up in excess of 500, 300 mark respectively.
During such a situation, the green bench prescribed temporary shutdown of thermal power plants, brick kilns, hot mix plants besides brief halting of all construction activity to tackle the situation in affected areas.
The NGT directed the Centre to provide happy seeders or other such machines in agriculture fields for removal of agriculture residue to farmers of Punjab and Haryana. It also said that the farmers should be given incentives to sell their paddy straw to biomass plants, industries and board making unit. It suggested an option of withdrawing incentive -- including grant of free power to farmers burning crops.
The green bench headed by chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar said, “The States owe a constitutional, statutory and public law obligation to protect provide to its citizens at least breathable if not absolutely clear air to breathe.”
It said that helicopters should be used to sprinkle water in the Delhi-NCR region, especially in those areas where pollution levels are in excess of the prescribed standard limits, said the Bench. It also asked them to strictly enforce their existing order on deregistering diesel vehicles older than ten years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.
Delhi, UP, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan shall also start vacuum cleaning of roads to prevent dust pollution and vehicular pollution, ordered the Bench. It further directed the inter-State central monitoring committee and State committees to enforce their orders on vehicular pollution, dust pollution, solid waste and crop burning. While the Central monitoring committee would meet once in two months starting from November 17, the State-level committees would conduct meetings every month starting November 24, said the Bench.
It further said that every State committee should, in their first meeting, notify one district where land use of agriculture is high and make it a model district for implementing orders to stop stubble burning.
Saying that the alarming pollution level is literally ‘capital punishment’ for Delhiites who are being robbed of three years of their lives due to it, Delhi High Court held on Thursday Government’s inaction and stubble burning in Punjab as being responsible for the “genocide”.
“It is killing us,” said a Bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar, adding that the grave situation was leading to the “decimation” of more than 60 million life years or one million deaths.
“It is literally capital punishment as the Capital is being punished and that too for no offence. People are being killed in the Capital. You cannot kill Delhi,” said the High Court, terming reduction in life expectancy due to pollution and Government inaction over it as “genocide” and “murder”.
Referring to a WHO study on the effects of air pollution published in a news article, the court said pollutants in the air in several cities of India, especially Delhi, “exceed the standards”, as 13 out of the world’s 20 most polluted cities were in our country.
“As per the report, air pollution in a city like Delhi deducts three years from your life expectancy. Delhi has a population of over 20 million. So 60 million life years are being robbed from people of Delhi.
“With an average life expectancy of 60 years, it would mean that air pollution as it exists in Delhi takes one million lives. If this is not murder, what isIJ This is genocide. Government inaction is the culprit for shortening of life,” the court said.
Referring to satellite images submitted by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in connection with stubble burning in northern India, the court said level of pollutants in the air peaked first week of November and biomass burning in Punjab was the “main culprit”.
“Unfortunately, the State of Punjab is in denial mode and contests allegations that they are responsible for air pollution in Delhi. Punjab has not taken action as have the States of Haryana and Rajasthan, despite our clear warning earlier,” said the court.