New Delhi: People in Delhi-NCR are losing "precious years of their lives" and cannot be "left to die" due to the "atrocious" pollution situation which reflects a "shocking state of affairs", the Supreme Court said Monday. It directed neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh to stop stubble burning.
The top court also stopped all construction and demolition activities as well as garbage and waste burning in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) till further orders.
Passing a slew of directions to curb alarming pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, it said citizens could not be evacuated from the national capital amid reports that people have been advised not to visit the city and leave it due to the environmental hazard.
Anguished over the rampant instances of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the top court summoned their chief secretaries on November 6 saying the time has come to "fix accountability" for this kind of situation which violates the right to life of citizens.
The court directed the Centre and the states concerned to prepare a roadmap within three weeks to prevent a situation in future like the one that is currently prevailing in the region due to toxic air quality.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta directed the chief secretaries of the three states as well as the district collectors and the police machinery to ensure that not even a single instance of stubble burning takes place there henceforth.
The top court further said Rs 1 lakh penalty would be imposed for construction or demolition activities in Delhi-NCR and the offenders involved in the garbage or waste burning would be penalised by Rs 5,000.
While directing authorities in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to take steps to extinguish the burning stubble, the bench said it has no sympathy for farmers indulging in it as they are putting lives of others at risk.
The bench also questioned the Delhi government over its much-publicised odd-even vehicle scheme, which kicked off Monday and directed it to place the data of pollution levels of previous periods when the scheme was put in place to curb air pollution.
Regarding pollution in Delhi-NCR due to dust on roads, the bench directed that water is sprinkled on roads having more dust and traffic plan be prepared to tackle the issue of pollution due to traffic congestion.
Earlier in the day, the number of vehicles on roads came down significantly on Monday, the first day of Delhi government's odd-even road rationing scheme, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying he was getting reports that people were following it nearly 100 per cent.
The anti-pollution measure kicked in from 8 am in Delhi, and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged people to follow the scheme for the sake of their family and children.
Kejriwal carpooled with Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain and Labour Minister Gopal Rai to reach the Delhi Secretariat.
While Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia rode a bicycle to from his residence, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot travelled in his OSD's car to reach the secretariat.
However, there was a visible improvement in the national capital's air quality on Monday afternoon as winds gusting up to 20 kilometres per hour dispersed some of the noxious haze that lingered over Delhi for around a week, even as the city's pollution level remained in the 'severe' category.More reports on P4