Post the Apex Court’s lashing of the centre and state governments over the deteriorating air pollution situation in Delhi NCR and most of North India, the Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed its disappointment over lack of action taken by authorities in containing air pollution saying “nobody will be spared if found violating rules.”
As per reports, the court said, “you just want to sit in your ivory towers and rule. You are not bothered and are letting the people die.”
The bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta took serious note of crop burning in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and asked the reason behind the inaction of the government machinery in stopping stubble burning.
A two-judge bench had summoned chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to explain their failure to curb stubble burning that is blamed for the toxic smog hanging over the region.
Justice Mishra asked the chief secretaries to make a plan for purchasing this stubble, make sure no burning takes place and to make the entire administration responsible.
The apex court was angry and said, “can you permit people to die like this due to pollution? Can you permit the country to go back by 100 years. It is a question of life and death of crores of people. We have to make government responsible for this.”
This came after the pollution levels in Delhi NCR went beyond severe plus levels. A public health emergency was called and schools were also shut down for two day.
Many companies asked their people to work from home and the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme was implemented by the Delhi government.
Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court had also lashed out at the central and Delhi government machinery for passing the buck and not doing enough to take steps in time. “Delhi is choking every year and we are unable to do anything,” a bench of the Supreme Court said.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the bench, furious at the inability of the government to take adequate steps, put the hearing on hold and ordered the government to ensure the presence of an expert and member of the Environment Prevention and Control Authority in 30 minutes when it will take up the air pollution in Delhi again.
Post the lapse of time, Justice Mishra again questioned the administration and asked about the funds coming from World Bank for better infrastructure and development. He asked about the funds allocated for this and asked about the road conditions.
He raised the point that construction activities were still going on in Delhi and told the Delhi Chief Secretary to deal with road dust, construction & demolition or garbage dumping.
The bench made a strong pitch for farmers in the hearing regarding the rising air pollution in Delhi and stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. Providing the states with seven days to procure the stubble from farmers to curb pollution, Justice Arun Mishra said, “In the coming seven days, you take all steps to procure the stubble. Mobilise the entire machinery, spend as much money as required but purchase the stubble. Precious time is being lost as regards preparing the field for the next crop.”
They also told the Punjab chief that farmers cannot be penalised without providing them amenities.
He also pulled up Punjab chief secretary over the response that 18,000 machines have been distributed, saying, “Why did you wait till September for this distribution? You started late that is why all machines could not be distributed.”
The bench also questioned the chief secretary of Haryana and told them that they were late in sensitizing and were worse than Punjab. They also said the same rules apply to UP and Delhi regions too.
SC ordered Haryana, Punjab, UP govts to incentivise farmers against stubble burning.