Noting that Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was 364 in the very poor category on Oct 23, National Green Tribunal observed that it reflected a lapse by the authorities in preventing the dip in air quality in NCR.
NGT is hearing a matter related to the worsening air quality in NCR after it took suo-motu cognisance of a media report following the enforcement of GRAP’s Stage I last year.
In its order dated Oct 24, which was shared on Sunday, the tribunal issued notices to the special commissioner, Delhi Traffic Management, and the commissioner of police, seeking details of steps taken to control vehicle pollution.
“It has been pointed out that vehicular pollution is also one of the major contributory factors, and the responsibility of controlling the traffic, unauthorised parking and running of old impermissible vehicles lies with the police department,” the bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava said.
It asked Delhi police to submit a report on the steps taken at the ground level to mitigate the contributory air-polluting factors related to vehicle movement and parking.
The tribunal observed that since last year, several times, the matter was taken up even during the period when the air quality was good, and NGT repeatedly emphasised on effective steps at the ground level so that the air quality does not deteriorate or there is improvement when winter arrives.
“Now, the winter has started, and we find that the AQI… was in the ‘very poor’ category, which reflects that there is a lapse on the part of the authorities in preventing the dip in the air quality in the NCR,” the bench said.
It added that, keeping in view the fact that the issue is being monitored yearlong by the Tribunal, the CAQM has been asked to disclose the steps taken by it from Jan 2024 to Sept 2024. Reacting to a report submitted by the CAQM dated Oct 23 that GRAP’s Stage I is to be invoked subject to the AQI projected to remain higher than 200 marks for a “sufficiently long duration” in the coming days, the NGT said, “It is not disclosed as to what duration is treated to be a sufficiently long duration.”
