Supreme court observes
There should be a policy with regard to steps to be taken at every stage such as at level one,
particular decisions would be taken and at level two, odd-even scheme would be implemented and at level three, schools would be closed
Pollution menace: SC asks Centre about disaster management plan
PTI
New Delhi
Taking note of the enormity of alarming rise in pollution levels, Supreme Court Tuesday asked the
Centre to respond within 48 hours and give details about its policy or a “disaster management plan” to deal with the prevailing situation in the national capital region.
The court also considered the submisison on alleged differences among various authorities and
between Centre and the Delhi government and asked them to devise a “common minimum programme” at least for taking steps to deal with the pollution menace.
“We want to know whether you (Centre) have any disaster management plan. Do you have a policy
which deals with graded responses to the situation and provides what action would be taken at which stage? “What is the protocol? Now the time has come where we need to have this,” a bench
comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and S A Bobde said.
During the 30-minute-long hearing, the bench sought to know from Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar,
representing the Centre, about the policy to deal with the rising pollution levels and asked
whether the Centre monitored the situation.
There should be a policy with regard to steps to be taken at every stage such as at level one,
particular decisions would be taken and at level two, odd-even scheme would be implemented and at level three, schools would be closed, the bench suggested while giving illustrations on possible
graded responses to emerging situations.
The Solicitor General said unregulated “commercialisation” and “industrialisation” of Delhi was
one of the reasons for the present situation.
“In last 60 years, Delhi has grown in such a manner where there has been unregulated urbanisation. The vehicles have grown in numbers. If you cover a distance in one hour and 20 in contrast to 20 minutes, then it adds to pollution,” he said and sought two days time from the court to seek instructions from the Centre in the matter.
Meanwhile, Delhi government informed the court that it has so far acquired six vacuum cleaning
vehicles and two have been already made functional.
Crop stubble burning is becoming a major cause of pollution with the National Green Tribunal
Tuesday slamming Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for not taking prior steps to control it.
“82 per cent of the citizens say that a more extensive subsidy programme need to be put together
by central and state government to bring down the cost of the seeding equipment,” a survey said.
Out of 21,975 respondents, 91 per cent said, municipal corporations should ensure that there is no
garbage burning.
As per the multi-parameter survey conducted by Noida-based online networking portal LocalCircles, citizens appeared to be divided on whether construction should be banned during winters or not.
Out of 25,284 people, 46 per cent said it should not be banned while 43 per cent said it should
be.
“On the issue of ban of large diesel commercial vehicles entering city limits, 76 per cent of the
citizens said the police should enforce it,” according to the survey.
“On the issue of burning of garbage, 82 per cent of citizens said that municipal corporations
should not do it,” the survey said.
