Authored by- Anuj Vishwakarma
Introduction-
As India makes a slow recovery from the second wave of the coronavirus, the temporarily ceased plight of life-threatening air pollution levels in Delhi makes their return. The capital of India has been vulnerable to air pollution over the last decade, which was halted by the lockdowns imposed by the central government in the wake of the covid- 19 pandemic periodically since March 2020, when the Air Quality Index (AQI) decreased drastically to the satisfactory level. However, as the fear of coronavirus continues to fade, the lockdown removed and the burning of cracker during the festive of Diwali, the AQI level has marked a drastic jump in the past two weeks. AQI which was satisfactory during the lockdowns has now escalated to the ‘hazardous zone’ over the last two weeks. On the next day of the Diwali, the AQI was recorded at 462 signifying ‘severe’ zone. Out of all the huge population of Delhi which borders 2 crores, a 17-years old Delhi student has filed a petition in the Supreme Court concerning the rising air-pollution in the capital of India. Hearing the same petition on November 13, 2021, the special bench of the Supreme Court directed the Centre to take the immediate measures and reprimanded both the central and as well as the state government for their lackadaisical approach to the emergency. On the following days, the Supreme Court requested the government to order the work from home for its employees to which the government did not approve of.
Cause of air pollution in Delhi-
There are various reasons which accounts for the alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi, they include the vehicular emission caused by the vehicles, the industrial pollution, crop burning mainly in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, and the construction works. Delhi accounts for more than 10 million vehicles which cause a huge amount of pollution. The capital is surrounded by highly polluted industrial areas such as Najafgarh drain basin which is a highly toxic and polluted cluster in India. There are more than 300 brick kilns located in the outskirts of Delhi, which causes high pollution, especially in winters, as in summer and spring, the winds blow relatively faster and the gases become more volatile.
The lackadaisical Delhi Government-
Over the past years, the approach of the government has been lackadaisical in nature while dealing with the air pollution in the capital. The Supreme Court has also reprimanded the government for their casual approach to the immediate situation and accused them to have developed a sort of inertia. In the same petition filed by the 17-year boy, the solicitor general appearing for the central government has asked the Supreme Court to wait till November 21, 2021 before taking any strict measures on account that according to the meteorological scientists the wind blow will be there. The reasoning for the approach presented by the government is clearly visible to hopeless. Measures are required to be taken during the times of emergency which is already choking the people of Delhi, they cannot be put on hold on the hope that the future is going to be better.
In 2017, the Supreme Court directed the Central pollution Control Board to come up with a comprehensive action plan, urgently, on account of the smog crisis in Delhi in 2017. The CPCB introduced the “Graded Response Action Plan” to deal with the air pollution in the capital. However, the government on many occasions has been accused of not implementing the GRAP to the best of its utility. The government has been late in implementing the measures required as per the conditions at that point of time. As per the GRAP, in the case of emergency crisis, the construction activities have to banned. However, there was no directions from the government’s side to ban the same until getting reprimanded by the Supreme Court during the on November 13, 2021. There has been no action plan introduced by the Delhi government to take urgent measures in the times of an emergency situation. The Supreme Court has rebuked the Delhi government for not coming up with any urgent and severe action plan. Even during the proceeding of the above mentioned, the Delhi government persisted on taking lame excuses.
Conclusion-
Amid the warnings from the Indian Meteorological Department that the crisis shall continue to be there until the next few days as well, the Delhi government has come up with a 5 point plan to bring the people of Delhi relief from the worsened air pollution levels. To stop the burning of crops, the government has introduced a massive “Anti Open Burning Campaign”. The future holds whether the people of Delhi will breathe a comparatively cleaner air or the picture continues to be the same. The implementation of the measures introduced by the government will be the deal-breaker.
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