Delhi Air Pollution | AQI Does Not Indicate Any Significant Improvement, Take All Possible Measures: NGT

The principal bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the authorities to take all possible measures to ensure improvement in the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi.

A bench of Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Dr. A. Senthil Vel observed, “It is difficult to accept the stand of different authorities that they are taking all possible measures to control air pollution and improve the quality of air because the air quality index of Delhi…does not indicate any significant improvement. Hence the authorities are directed to take all possible measures to ensure that quality of air improves in Delhi.”

Referring to the newspaper report of November 20, the bench said “on account of the poor air quality in the city, serious health hazards are been faced by the residents of the different age group and categories.”

Considering the health aspect, NGT said that the authorities are expected to take the best possible measure so that air quality in the city improves.

In October, the Tribunal took suo moto action against deteriorating AQI in Delhi. Thereafter, reports by various authorities including CPCB, Government of NCT Delhi (GNCTD) were filed, however NGT had found that there was no improvement.

Therefore, directions were made to file the Action Taken Report again. In the present proceeding, pursuing the report submitted by GNCTD the Tribunal observed that, “action plan has failed to provided concrete proposals and action taken thereof which would indicate an improvement in the air quality.”

The Tribunal also referred to the AQI of the past 11 days and noted that, “the air quality was severe for three days, very poor for five days and poor for three days. Thus we do not notice any significant improvement in the air quality.”

In the light of the above the NGT has directed to file the action taken report again “within one week.”

The matter is listed for November 29, for further consideration.

It is pertinent to note that the Supreme Court today, has suggested excluding farmers burning their stubble from the purview of the minimum support price (MSP) infrastructure, as a part of a carrot-and-stick policy to disincentivise stubble burning in Punjab and other states adjacent to Delhi.

It also recommended completely subsidising baling machines for poor farmers and financing their operating costs to convert stubble into a useful byproduct that could then be sold for a profit by the state government.

Title: In re : News item published in Indian Express dated 07.10.2023 titled “GRAP Stage 1 kicks in as air quality dips to poor, condition likely to prevail till Sunday”