Delhi air pollution: Supreme Court orders GRAP IV to continue till Dec 2, aims to find long-term solution

The Supreme Court on November 28 ordered Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), currently in force to tackle the severe air quality in Delhi, will continue to till December 2. 

A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said that in the meantime, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) will hold a meeting to decide on easing the GRAP restrictions.  

“We make it clear that all GRAP IV measures except for schools shall be continued till Monday. In the meantime, Commission for Air Quality Management will hold a meeting and come out with the suggestion about moving from GRAP IV to GRAP III or GRAP II. We also make it clear that it is not necessary that all measures which are provided in GRAP IV should be dispensed with,” the bench said. 

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the second report submitted by the court commissioners showed an “abject failure” of authorities in implementing the GRAP IV curbs in letter and spirit. 

The bench also made it clear that it would continue to hear the matter related to air pollution in detail to find a long-term solution to the crisis. 

“We must have a machinery in place which can send us 24x7 data of stubble burning. That is the root problem you see and that is why this problem is arising... and states are very slow in taking action against the farmers,” the court said. 

The top court has been monitoring action taken by authorities in the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to curb stubble-burning incidents, among other things. 

The court had appointed 13 lawyers as ‘advocate commissioners’ to examine whether its earlier directives to restrict the entry of trucks from neighbouring areas into the national capital was being properly enforced. 

Meanwhile, the court also took note of a news report that stubble burning was being allowed by officials after 4 PM and asked the authorities in Punjab to take action in case the media reportage is correct. 

“We have gone through an India Today report which shows that land revenue officers advising farmers to burn stubble after 4 pm. If correct it is a violation. State authorities cannot advise such and Government of Punjab shall immediately advise all officers to not indulge in such actions,” it said. 

Delhi AQI in ‘very poor’ zone 

Pollution levels in Delhi increased slightly on November 28 morning with the air quality in the ‘very poor’ category, officials said. 

At 9 am, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 313, compared to a reading of 301 at 9 am on November 27, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. 

Of the 38 monitoring stations that recorded air quality data, none reported levels in the severe category, according to the CPCB data. 

Meanwhile, the city’s minimum temperature settled 0.2 notches below normal at 10.2 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said. 

(With input from agencies)