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SC asks CAQM for report as Capital’s air gets worse
The direction comes amidst the body’s inertia in responding to the Capital’s bad air despite reports of lapses in measuring the Air Quality Index, and its reluctance in following last year’s court direction on the implementation of GRAP
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The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to submit a report on the pre-emptive steps being taken to prevent further deterioration in the Capital’s air quality.
The direction comes amidst the body’s inertia in responding to the Capital’s bad air despite reports of lapses in measuring the Air Quality Index, and its reluctance in following last year’s court direction on the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), citing a very technical interpretation of that, as reported by Hindustan Times on Monday .
The CAQM sub-committee did not hold a meeting on Monday, with an official aware of the matter citing an improvement in the AQI. “The AQI has improved by over 50 points. Therefore, Stage 2 will continue,” the official said. Stage 2 measures have been in force in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) since October 19, when the AQI first crossed 300.
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) at 4pm on Monday stood at 309 (categorised as “very poor”), and the fall from Sunday, when it was 366, can be explained by meteorological phenomena (including wind speed and direction). Still, gaps in the readings starting Diwali weekend, reports of efforts to reduce AQI readings in individual stations by sprinkling water outside them continually, and an analysis in Hindustan Times on October 31 that highlighted the gaps between satellite measures of pollution and the readings, have raised questions about the representativeness of the publicised AQI measure.
CAQM has not responded to the worsening pollution.
This was pointed out to the court by senior advocate Aparajita Singh assisting the court as amicus curiae. She said CAQM, which is the statutory body responsible for taking steps to curb pollution in Delhi and adjoining areas, is duty-bound under past orders passed by the court to take pre-emptive measures by implementing emergency measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
She said Delhi’s air is already in the “very poor” zone with AQI hovering between 300 to 400 across majority of monitoring stations. And she pointed to news reports stating that during the Diwali days, only nine out of the Capital’s 37 monitoring stations were functional.
“ CAQM must tell this court what pre-emptive steps they intend to take before the air turns severe,” she said. Quoting the newspaper reports, she added, “If the monitoring stations have not been functioning, how do we know when to implement GRAP?”
In response, a a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justice K Vinod Chandran said: “We direct CAQM to place on record an affidavit explaining what steps are proposed to be taken to prevent the air in Delhi-NCR from turning severe.”
Overall, CAQM has over 20 members, which includes full-time members, ex-officio members, NGO experts and ex-officio expert members. The agency’s chairperson is Rajesh Verma member secretary is Tarun Kumar Pithode. Other members include SD Attri, member (technical) and Dr Virinder Sharma, also member (technical).
The expert members include Arvind Wable, President, WWF India Board of Trustees and Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The ex-officio members include joint secretary of the pollution control division in the Union environment ministry and the secretary in-charges of the environment departments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, among others.
The agency’s sub-committee on GRAP, which is tasked with putting into effect the anti-pollution plan, comprises of 12 members and is headed by Attri. It also comprises Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (CAQM member) and Ram Kumar Agrawal (CAQM’s technical director).
Other members include member secretaries from the Central Pollution Control Board and the state pollution boards of Delhi, UP, Haryana and Rajasthan. It also has expert members, including VK Soni, senior scientist at IMD, Sachin Ghude, scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune and TK Joshi, health advisor at the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) in Delhi.
GRAP for the National Capital Region (NCR) is classified under four different stages of adverse air quality in Delhi: Stage 1 – poor (AQI 201-300); Stage 2 – very poor (AQI 301-400); Stage 3 – severe (AQI 401-450); and Stage 4 – severe plus (AQI above 450).
Last year, the Supreme Court in December ordered that Grap Stage 3 should be enforced every time the AQI crosses 350 and Stage 4 when it passes 400.
Senior advocate Ruchi Kohli appearing for CAQM told the court that the Commission has already filed its report indicating the pre-emptive steps taken in the previous years.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati who appeared for Centre informed the bench that CAQM would file a report in terms of the court’s order.
Air quality in the NCR is expected to worsen in coming days on account of an approaching western disturbance.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, said wind speeds touched 15 km/hr on Monday, but should become calm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Wind speed will again drop and there will be moisture in the air, leading to stagnation. Pollution should rise again,” said Palawat.
With farm stubble burning, mostly in Punjab, yet to peak — data presented in the Court on Monday showed only 2,202 instances between September 15 and November 1 — experts say that the worst is yet to come.
IIT Delhi professor and air pollution expert Mukesh Khare said stubble burning has been delayed in northern states this year, particularly in Punjab due to the severe monsoon flooding.
“Early harvesting and subsequent burning did not occur this year as the soil was still wet. It is likely the harvesting happens a week or two later than usual. Sowing will subsequently be delayed too,” he said.
