The Supreme Court asks Punjab and Haryana whether they are interested in implementing the air pollution law

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 23) arrested the Punjab Chief Secretary. The court said around 1,080 FIR violators were registered but nominal fine was collected from only 473 people. The court took strong exception to the governments of Punjab and Haryana for not taking action against people for stubble burning. “If these governments are really interested in implementing the law, at least one prosecution will have taken place,” the court noted.

“You save 600 or more people. We will tell you very honestly that you are sending a message to offenders that nothing will be done against them. This has been the case for three years,” the court said.

The court has come down heavily on the Center for making environmental laws ‘toothless’. It said the provision of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act on penalty for stubble burning had not been implemented. The Supreme Court said the CAQM Act was enacted without creating requisite machinery for implementation of the law to check air pollution. The Center assured the apex court that a ruling will be issued within 10 days on the penalties under the CAQM Act for stubble burning.

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category with an overall AQI of 363 as a thick layer of smog enveloped the national capital. The Jahangirpuri monitoring station recorded a “severe” AQI at 418, while Vivek Vihar’s reading was 407 and Anand Vihar’s was 402.

At 9 am, the AQI at Sonia Vihar was close to the “severe” category at 398, while Wazirpur recorded 396.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe’. Currently, the city is in phase two of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) against pollution.