New Delhi, Oct 28
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notice to the Delhi Police Commissioner and Special Commissioner, Traffic Management, and asked them to file their affidavits disclosing the action taken to mitigate the contributory air polluting factors in Delhi and adjoining areas.
A bench, headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava (retd), was hearing a suo moto original application, registered last year, over the issue of deteriorating air quality in the NCR.
The green tribunal said that it heard the matter on several occasions in the past, including when the air quality was good and "repeatedly emphasised to take effective steps at the ground level so that the air quality does not deteriorate or there is improvement when the winter comes".
"Now, the winter has started, and we find that the Air Quality Index (AQI) on October 23 in Delhi was 364 in the 'very poor category which reflects that there is a lapse on the part of the authorities in preventing the dip in the air quality in NCR," it said.
The NGT took note of the fact that vehicular pollution was also one of the major contributory factors, and the responsibility of controlling the traffic, unauthorised parking, and banning old impermissible vehicles lies with the Police Department.
"We implead the following as additional respondents: Commissioner of Police, Delhi and Special Commissioner, Traffic Management, Delhi. Let notice be issued to the above newly added respondents for filing the response by way of affidavit disclosing the steps which have been taken at the ground level to mitigate the contributory air polluting factors relating to vehicular movements and parking," it ordered.
Further, it ordered the Delhi government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to widely publicise the Green App and MCD311 App so that they become known to the public and may utilise them for making complaints in cases of violation.
The NGT also directed that field staff and teams, deployed to ensure that no violation takes place, be strengthened and monitored by competent officers for effective implementation at the ground level.
Recently, the Supreme Court had slammed the Chief Secretaries of the Punjab and Haryana governments over non-compliance with the directions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a statutory body tasked with preparing strategies to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR. It had come down heavily on both states for not launching prosecution against violators and collecting a "nominal amount of fines" for stubble burning.
The top court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) relating to the control of air pollution in the national capital. The CAQM recently issued a directive empowering District Magistrates in Punjab, Haryana, and NCR areas of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to prosecute officials for inaction on stubble burning enforcement.
Earlier, the SC had said that the CAQM "needs to be more active" to combat the menace of air pollution in the national capital and adjoining areas. It had said that "the Commission has not performed the way it was expected to perform, considering the object for which it was set up". "We are of the view that though the Commission has taken certain steps, the Commission needs to be more active. The Commission must ensure that its efforts and directions issued actually translate into reducing the problem of pollution," it had said.
The CAQM was set up in 2020 for air quality management in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas for better coordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems surrounding the air quality index. Every year, Delhi and the entire NCR have to bear the brunt of air pollution from October to December, mainly due to the burning of crop residue.
