Delhi Pollution: Supreme Court Orders Construction Ban, Strict Action Against Crop Stubble Burning
“Governments are only interested in electioneering” and passing the buck on pollution, Supreme Court says.
The Supreme Court ordered a ban on construction in Delhi and said administration and village heads of neighbouring states will be held liable for not preventing crop stubble burning, as it expressed anguish about inability to curb the smog that has engulfed national capital.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra chided the central government and states of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab for failing to take measures to control pollution.
The “governments are only interested in electioneering” and passing the buck, it observed, stopping the hearing for around 30 minutes to summon officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and an expert from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Every winter Delhi is covered in a toxic smog as crop burning and Diwali firecrackers add to the pollution caused by coal-fired power plants and vehicular traffic. Air quality remains hazardous, prompting the Supreme Court mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority to declare a public health emergency.
The top court summoned chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi on Nov. 13 and passed directions to be implemented in the meantime. These include:
- Ban on all construction activity in Delhi. Local officials of an area will be held personally liable for a violation.
- Penalty of Rs 1 lakh on anyone found engaging in construction or demolition in Delhi NCR.
- Penalty of Rs 5,000 on burning garbage in Delhi NCR.
- Chief secretaries, district collectors, tehsildars and the entire police machinery to ensure that not even a single incident of stubble burning takes place. The administration would be held responsible.
- Gram pradhans will be personally held liable for any more stubble burning.
The directions will be in effect till further orders and the case will come up for hearing on Nov. 13.
The chief secretaries will have to answer why their governments should not be held liable to pay compensation based on the ‘polluter pays principles’, the court said.
“We are losing precious years of our lives. We are surviving on air purifiers. Can we survive like this? The centre and states are passing the buck. The state machinery is not doing anything,” said Justice Mishra said.
The top court also examined the issue of banning the entry of diesel vehicles but left the final decision on the pollution control authority appointed by the court.