HC seeks action plan to bring down air pollution in Delhi

Concerned over poor air quality in the national capital, the Delhi High Court today directed the Centre, AAP government and other authorities to submit plans to bring the pollution levels within the prescribed limits.
Irked by lack of action plans from the governments and most of the authortities, a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva asked each department/authority before it to nominate an officer who would ensure compliance of the court's directions.
The court noted that the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), represented by advocate Sanjeev Ralli, was the only body which had filed an action plan as well as pollution data which indicated that during three periods of time -- October to November, December to January and May to June -- the air pollution in the capital peaked to very high levels.

In October-November, it was due to burning of biomass and crops by the neighbouring states, in December-January it was on account of temperature inversions and in May-June due to dust storms emanating in Rajasthan, DPCC told the court.
The data also indicated that apart from these three periods, the "background pollution" levels during remainder of the year were also beyond prescribed norms.
"This clearly indicates that apart from the peak levels, background pollution levels are way out of prescribed norms. The reasons for this may be many, including dust pollution from construction activities, vehicular pollution and industrial pollution.

"Therefore, action is required to pull down the peak levels and bring the background pollution within prescribed limits," the bench said.

It went on to pull up the central government for not submitting any regional or sub-regional plan to curb air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) as directed by the court.
The court observed that officials were not in the habit of
listening to their ministers as the environment minister in a meeting held in April last year had said there was need for short, medium and long-term plans to tackle air pollution in Delhi and NCR, but nothing has happened till now.
In its defence, the Centre said that it has received plans from the governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, but these do not contain the specific timelines and responsibilities have not been earmarked.

Despite that, the court asked the Centre to file the plans it has received and listed the matter for further hearing on January 28.
It also directed the municipalities and other civic bodies to advertise/publicise the harmful effects of burning of leaves, garbage and plastic, in order to dissuade people from contributing to air pollution in this manner. The court directed the authorities to file affidavits showing the steps taken by them in this direction.
Delhi Traffic Police was also asked to publicise harmful effects of improper driving on the environment. It was also directed to carry out proper traffic management and to take action against people who violate rules and jump carriageways.

The court directed the traffic police to work out a comprehensive plan and to indicate steps it has taken to decongest the 14 heavily congested areas, identified by the agency, in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the bench directed National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to take remedial action regarding the huge mounds of rubble and dust that have been dug up on either side of the highway between Delhi and Faridabad, saying this too is a source of particulate matter in the air due to vehicular movement.