People of India’s National Capital Delhi rose to see the city covered is such a suffocating thick layer of smog that almost all weather-monitoring stations fell into red zone in the morning on October 23, 2024. With it more areas moved into severe level of air pollution. By noon, the Supreme Court of India pulled up Centre for framing ‘toothless’ environmental laws, apart from criticizing Haryana and Punjab for failing to control stubble burning, one of the chief causes of yearly worsening of air pollution in Delhi. The Supreme Court while pulling up the Centre for the toothless laws that was framed and enacted without creating required machinery for implementation of the laws to curb air pollution. The apex court said that the CAQM Act on penalty for stubble burning is not being effectively implemented in Haryana and Punjab. In response to such a harsh comment, the Centre has assured the apex court that the regulation on penalty under CAQM Act for stubble burning will be issued in 10 days.
Air Quality Index (AQI) in the morning showed overall air quality in Delhi in the ‘very poor’ category with an AQI of 363, while more areas fell into the ‘severe’ zone. AQI at Jahangirpuri monitoring station was 418, at Vivek Vihar 407, and at Anand Vihar 402. AQI at Sonia Vihar at 9 AM was close to ‘severe’ category at 398 and at Wazirpur it was 396. It is worth noting that an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good,’ 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory,’ 101 to 200 ‘moderate,’ 201 to 300 ‘poor,’ 301 to 400 ‘very poor,’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe.’ With worsening the air pollution in Delhi, the city is placed under Stage-II of the anti-pollution measure Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
Related Posts:
If it worsens further, more restrictions will be ordered, such as even closure of schools. Under the GRAP, air pollution control measures are placed in four Stages in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Stage I (poor air quality) focuses on controlling dust at construction sites, waste management, and reducing emissions from industries and power plants. Under Stage II (very poor air quality) restrictions are placed on diesel vehicle use, closure of brick kilns and stone crushers, and a ban on coal and firewood.
Though many areas of Delhi have clearly fallen into Stage III (severe air quality), government is yet to order restrictions which as per GRAP should have been implemented, which include stronger restrictions on industrial emissions and a complete stop to development works generating pollution.
Under Stage IV (severe plus air quality), it has been planned a complete ban on non-essential commercial activities, including construction and manufacturing, and emergency measures like odd-even vehicle usage, which Delhi have been using for the last few years. The government of Delhi has so far taken several measures. To control dust, it has been implementing several measures including ban on work and construction sites, sprinkling of water and mechanical sweeping of roads. To curbing air pollution the government has urged to limit private vehicle use and opt for public transport. Government has enhanced public transport services and increasing parking fees to discourage use of private vehicles.
Use of diesel generators has been banned, except for emergency and essential services. There is also a complete ban on firecrackers in the city even for Diwali festival. Nevertheless, pollution seems to be unchecked, and major contributor to the seasonal air pollution every year remains the stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab. Noting the rampant stubble burning in neighbouring states, the Supreme Court of India has pulled up the Centre, on which Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati representing the Centre assured the court that rules would be finalised in 10 days and would be made “fully operational”.
