New Delhi: As the national Capital continued to choke under severe air quality on Monday, the Supreme Court pulled up the Centre and state governments, asking them to act in the backdrop of ongoing political tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party.
Schools closed till Tuesday in the National Capital Region after a public health emergency was declared by the EPCA (Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority).
The Supreme Court summoned Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab on Wednesday in connection with the rising pollution in Delhi-NCR.
A bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, said, the construction and demolition, diesel vehicles will be off in Delhi/NCR, keeping in view the level of pollution.
No garbage burning either. No diesel gensets for 7 days, the apex court said, and added that the right to life of people is important.
Roads will be sprinkled with water to keep dust to minimum.
Concerned departments and local administrations in all states have been directed to ensure no incident of crop stubble burning takes place, the apex court said.
The average Air Quality Index was at 430 at 1300 hours on Monday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board here while it was over 450 in the NCR region at many places including Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Gurugram.
Despite a slight improvement in the air flow, the situation had not changed much on Monday
|