Delhi’s air high quality index has crossed the 450 mark and entered the extreme plus class
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court bench listening to petitions linked to Delhi’s poisonous air high quality was in for a shock when a senior lawyer identified that development was underway on the courtroom premises regardless of a ban on development actions.
The bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice AG Masih was grilling the Commission for Air Quality Management and Delhi authorities over the delay in implementing curbs beneath the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to verify the deterioration of the capital’s Air Quality Index.
At one level, the bench began taking inventory of the implementation of curbs beneath GRAP 4, imposed when the AQI crossed the 450 mark.
“…ban on development and demolition actions… who’s monitoring this? Is any person going to the location and checking?” Justice Oka requested.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, showing for one of many petitioners, promptly replied, “Construction is occurring exterior courtroom 11 inside Supreme Court proper now. Stones are being damaged, development is on and dirt is up within the air.”
Justice Oka, shocked by the senior lawyer’s revelation, responded, “What? Flash a message requesting secretary common to come back to courtroom. Just name him.”
Delhi awakened gasping for breath this morning, with the Air Quality Index hovering across the 500 mark — about 10 instances the wholesome AQI vary of 0-50.
The courtroom at this time pulled up authorities over the delay in implementing robust restrictions beneath GRAP to deal with the capital’s dangerous air days. It flagged the “fallacious method” in implementing restrictions. “The fee can not await enchancment in AQI. It ought to take steps in anticipation,” the bench stated. It requested all states within the National Capital Region to implement GRAP 4 restrictions and to arrange committees to watch their implementation and guarantee strict compliance.
The courtroom additionally stated that GRAP 4 curbs will proceed to be in power even when the AQI drops under the 450 mark. “We make it clear that until additional orders of this courtroom, implementation of stage 4 shall proceed even when AQI falls under 450. All state and central governments to file compliance affidavit by Thursday,” the courtroom stated.