Supreme Court bans construction, demolition, waste burning in Delhi-NCR.

The Supreme Court, on 4 November 2019, prohibited all construction and demolition activities in the region, along with the burning of garbage and waste in order to enact the severe air pollution in Delhi-NCR as ‘atrocious’. The apex court said, because of the ‘worsening of emergency’, people cannot ‘left to die’, the people engaged in construction work and demolition activities, despite their order, would be fined Rs 1 lakh. It added that if anybody found burning garbage and waste in the area, a fine of Rs 5,000 would be applied.

The local administration and zonal officials will be held responsible in case of any violation said a bench of justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta. The situation in the region was said to be ‘a blatant and serious violation of an individual’s rights to life’ and scientific data showed that this had reduced the life span of those living in the region.

The Delhi government and municipal authorities were asked to draft a plan to ensure that waste dumped in open spaces is removed and a scheme was developed to deal with the problem. With regard to pollution because of the accumulation of dust on the roads, the bench said the water was sprinkled on areas that were susceptible to dust. The Commission ordered the development of a traffic plan so that no burden was imposed on a given road and the pollution problem due to traffic jams could be dealt with.

The bench demanded that the court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to conduct a meeting and determine if industries leading to Delhi-NCR pollution levels could be shut down during this time frame. It also asked the EPCA, except for those carrying vital goods, to make an appeal to ban the entry of diesel-powered trucks.

The expected improvement in Pollution level with the help of rains.

Meanwhile, on 4 November 2019, the level of pollution of the nation’s capital dropped from the category “severe” to the category of “very poor” with wind speeds rising, thereby reducing the unhealthy haze that obscure Delhi skies for about a week. The city’s air quality index read 407 at 4 pm, one day after the pollution levels peaked to a 3-year high (494). At 8:30 pm the AQI dipped up to 370, which comes under the category of ‘very poor’.

The relief came with significantly lower numbers of vehicles on Delhi roads with the AAP government introducing its rationing scheme. The visibility level has improved to 2000 meters, with winds up to 20 km/h dispersing pollutants faster. Cyclone Maha and western disturbances will cause rainfall in parts of the Northern Plains covered by Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-NCR were said by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on November 6-7,2019 to further improve the situation.