The pollution levels in the national capital have been the topic of discussion for a while now. The Delhi High Court observed on Thursday that the “alarming” proportions make it akin to “living in a gas chamber”.
The court directed the Centre and Delhi government to present comprehensive action plans to combat the menace.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva termed the action plans filed by the environment ministry and Delhi government as “not comprehensive”. The court pointed out that the plans did not contain specific responsibilities of each authority and the timeline for carrying them out.
Court’s Directives to the Govt
- File comprehensive action plans by the next date of hearing on December 21.
- Ensure no construction of building or roads takes place without first ensuring that generation of dust is minimised.
- (To Delhi government) Ensure garbage and leaves are not burned by people in the open, as directed by the National Green Tribunal.
- (To the city administration) Publicise in print, audio and visual media that such practices are prohibited.
- (To Delhi government) Seek action taken reports from sub-divisional magistrates and tehsildars who have been tasked with carrying out surprise inspections with regard to dust generation.
- With regard to yellow line violations, the traffic police must ensure there is zero tolerance for such incidents and to ensure proper lane driving in Delhi.
On emissions from idling vehicles and traffic congestion, police told the court it has identified 14 areas which were seriously congested and decongested them significantly by deploying more personnel and putting up plastic bollards to segregate carriageways and regulate flow of traffic.