The Supreme Court yesterday gave the federal government two days to chalk out a plan to tackle alarming levels of smog in Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital.
An environmental body filed a petition with the Supreme Court earlier this week demanding a review of the government’s previous lacklustre attempts to control the pollution levels, describing it as a “public health emergency.”
Delhi has been shrouded in a toxic soup in recent days as pollution levels spiked after the Diwali festival which is marked by setting off ear-splitting – and highly polluting – fireworks.
The air quality generally worsens with the onset of winter, as farmers in neighbouring states burn crop stubble after the harvest and cooler temperatures trap pollutants in a smoggy haze over the city.
The government yesterday asked the court for two days to come up with a plan, which was granted.
“Give me two days. We will have a meeting with the environment secretary and come up with a comprehensive response to the problem of Delhi pollution,” Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court.
Yesterday morning, the US embassy showed the concentration of PM2.5 – the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease – at a “hazardous” level of 372, lower than Monday’s off-the-charts reading of 778.
Levels between 301 and 500 are classified as “hazardous,” meaning everyone faces a risk of respiratory effects and should stay indoors, while levels above 500 are beyond the official index.
In a separate hearing in India’s environment court yesterday, Judge Swantanter Kumar slammed authorities of Delhi and four of its neighbouring states for not taking action sooner to control alarming levels of pollution.
“What did you do when all this smog was going on and the particulate matter reached beyond prescribed limits?” Kumar said.
Authorities began revoking licences for thousands of older diesel vehicles and halted construction work on the underground rail network.
Licences given to diesel-powered vehicles more than 15 years old are being withdrawn, which would lead to the removal of 200,000 vehicles from the city’s roads, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s office said in a statement.
In July, the National Green Tribunal had ordered Delhi authorities to pull diesel vehicles that were more than 10 years old off the roads, but that order was not enforced.
“There is lax action on the court’s directives. There is little recognition of the urgency of toxic air pollution, particularly in the winter months,” said Sunita Narain, head of the Centre for Science and Environment which has filed a petition before the Supreme Court.