Stubble burning contributes just 10% to Delhi's pollution: Centre tells SC

Delhi's air pollution was a "crisis situation", the Supreme Court said on Monday as it pulled up the city government for "lame excuses" and "passing the buck", and insisted on immediate steps.

Delhi’s government told the court it is ready to lock down the city to control air pollution, but the step will have a limited impact without similar measures in places nearby.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the central government, told the court that farm waste burning was found to be accounting just 10 per cent of the emissions on average through the year.

A lockdown is needed in neighbouring areas comprising the National Capital Region (NCR), the Arvind Kejriwal government said in its affidavit, according to NDTV.com.

"The Delhi government is ready to take steps like complete lock down to control local emissions. However, such a step would be meaningful if it is implemented across the NCR areas in neighbouring states. Given Delhi's compact size, a lock down would have limited impact on the air quality regime," said the affidavit.

Toxic air shrouded Delhi Monday morning, making it the fourth most polluted city on the planet. Kejriwal on Saturday closed schools for a week and construction sites for four days, as the city tries to protect people in a worsening air pollution crisis. 

Earlier that day, the chief justice of India asked the central and Delhi governments to come up with an emergency plan to tackle the dangerous smog, calling the situation "very serious".

IQAir, a website which monitors air pollution around the world, had Delhi ranked fourth in its list of 10 most-polluted cities a little before 11 am. 

Residents of Delhi endured this year's worst air on November 5, a day after revellers burnt firecrackers during Diwali, as Air Quality Index levels surged to 463 on a scale of 500.

Vehicular emissions contributed more than half of Delhi's particulate pollution between October 24-November 8, the Centre for Science and Environment think tank said in its report published on Thursday.