Top officials from Delhi and neighbouring states to be on the committee, order to be passed today
For concerted efforts to clean Delhi's severe air-quality, the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) chairperson bench said on Wednesday that it will constitute a joint committee of Delhi, Haryana Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh that will be charged with enforcing NGT's orders to tackle air-pollution. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the NGT had summoned Secretary, Environment Departments of these five states to seek answers on the deterioration of air-quality in the Capital. After it was clear that most states had done little to control sources of pollution, the Tribunal ordered the formation of a joint committee and a detailed order on the issue will be passed on Thursday.
"We proposed to have a committee of all states which will meet every two months and oversee planning and implementation of our orders. It will comprise of chief secretaries, chairman and member secretary of Central Pollution Control Board, secretary of housing or urban development," said NGT chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar.
The NGT has passed a slew of orders since last December in an on-going matter filed by Vardhaman Kaushik. These pertain to preventing burning of paddy straw, curbing vehicular pollution from old diesel and petrol run cars, checking burning of solid waste and dust pollution.
The inter-state committee will have to meet every two month and these meetings will happen in each state by rotation. Besides the inter-state committee, states will have to form another committee to track implementation of anti-pollution measures on ground. These reports will be eventually submitted to the NGT. The three-member bench warned of serious consequences if the Tribunal's orders are not implemented. "We will order disciplinary action and enforcement will be the only criteria," the bench added.
NGT will pass it's orders on the matter on Thursday hours before the Supreme Court (SC) is slated to hear the Centre and states. On Tuesday, the SC had asked Centre and states if there is a response system in place to tackle pollution as per its severity.
DPCC report
Earlier during the hearing, the bench also asked the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to submit on Thursday details of the Capital's ambient air-quality as recorded last week, especially between October 29 and November 6. It has to submit the maximum and minimum pollution levels recorded during this period.
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