At the end of the court hearing, the Centre sought 48 hours to come up with a plan to tackle air pollution in the city
A day after emergency measures were activated by the Delhi government to tackle the alarming levels of pollution, the apex court sought a response from Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, representing the Centre, if there was a policy in place or a "disaster management plan" to deal with the prevailing situation in the national capital region.
"We want to know whether you (Centre) have any disaster management plan. Do you have a policy which deals with graded responses to the situation and provides what action would be taken at which stage? What is the protocol? Now the time has come where we need to have this," a bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justices AK Sikri and SA Bobde said.
At the end of the 30-minute long hearing, the Centre sought 48 hours from the court to come up with a plan. The apex court stated that it would then come up with a detailed order after the submissions made on November 10. Giving illustrations, the apex court wondered, if shutting schools and implementing odd-even is enough. "You will implement odd-even, shut schools, and halt industries. Will you then shut down the city if all fails?" the court asked.
The question came after Aparajita Singh, who was appointed as the amicus curiae along with senior advocate Harish Salve, apprised the apex court on the current situation. Singh told the bench that the government has been lax with respect to the directives issued by the court. "There is lax action on the court's directives. There is little recognition of the urgency of toxic air pollution, particularly in the winter months," said Sunita Narain, head of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) which has filed a petition in the Supreme Court. "We are asking the court to monitor the implementation of measures," she said, calling for the government to declare the latest outbreak of smog "a public health emergency."
Responding to this, the court directed the Centre to note all the suggestions submitted by Narain and come up with a "common minimum programme." The common minimum graded response will be an alert-based plan that will come into effect at different levels. It will low down steps that will kick in when air pollution level crosses beyond a pre-set permissible limit.
The apex court further ordered the state and the central government to to ensure that it orders regarding the cleaning of streets and halting of construction activities should be complied with. While, the central government cited lack of manpower in implementing the court's directives, the state - represented by senior advocate Indira Jaisingh, submitted that they did not have enough operational vacuum cleaners to conduct the cleaning operations.
"The state currently posses six vacuum cleaners of which two are operational. The Delhi government requires at least 15 cleaners for which tenders have been floated a week ago," said Jaisingh.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Air pollution")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}