Air Pollution Woes: Apex Court to Hear Delhi-NCR Crisis Next Week, Flags Stubble Burning and GRAP Compliance
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India today directed the governments of Punjab and Haryana to urgently file a status report detailing the measures taken to curb stubble burning, a major contributor to the severe air pollution crisis gripping the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran issued the directive, stating that the court would take up the critical issue of air pollution in Delhi-NCR for a detailed hearing next week.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a long-pending petition filed in 1985 concerning air pollution, from which the contentious issue of crop residue burning regularly arises.
During the hearing, an advocate involved in the case informed the bench that while the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had implemented the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) up to Stage III, the severity of the crisis necessitated the immediate implementation of GRAP-IV.
The counsel highlighted the critical air quality situation, stating that the Air Quality Index (AQI) has crossed the 450 mark in several areas. Furthermore, the issue of ongoing construction activities, “including within the Supreme Court premises,” was flagged as a contributing factor. Another counsel raised concerns regarding the potential issue of false data being reported by some air monitoring stations.
The court’s directive follows recent strict action taken by the CAQM. Earlier, the Commission had issued a notice to the Deputy Commissioner of Fatehabad in Haryana for non-compliance with directives aimed at preventing paddy stubble burning.
Data cited by the CAQM indicated a sharp spike in incidents, with the Fatehabad district recording 48 incidents of stubble burning between November 1 and November 9. Of these, a significant 28 incidents occurred on November 8 and 9 alone, suggesting a failure in enforcement.
The CAQM’s notice stated that such recurring incidents “reflect inadequate supervision and poor enforcement of state action plans” which are designed to achieve the complete elimination of paddy stubble burning during the current harvest season.