Delhi air pollution: SC seeks AQI monitoring info from Delhi govt

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit detailing the nature of equipment and their efficiency in measuring the air quality index (AQI) in the city.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai passed the directions in response to submissions claiming that water sprinkling was carried out around pollution monitoring stations to skew the AQI readings in Delhi. The bench posted the matter for Wednesday.

During the hearing, amicus curiae senior advocate Aparajita Singh apprised the bench that instances of stubble burning were being undercounted. As a solution to prevent stubble burning, the amicus submitted, "Farmers do not have enough time to harvest the paddy earlier and thus the solution was to burn it. So we gave a suggestion that equipment be made available to farmers for disposing it off. From 2018, machineries are being given to farmers. State of Punjab says if ₹100 per quintal compensation is given to farmers from Centre, then an attempt can be made to tackle the issue."


The bench then enquired about the possibility of a year-long ban on stone crushers and other construction equipment. However, the counsel for the central government responded that "it is not possible".

The counsel added "all the countries who have achieved their growth are now giving us these points which hinder our growth. Now bad and poor days are the same, but the severe days have reduced. This cannot be answered by knee jerk reaction and every human activity creates pollution".

The bench eventually said in its order that "the restriction to be imposed on activities in Delhi in a graded manner taking into consideration AQI standards has been finalised by experts in the field based on scientific data. We do not possess expertise to deal with the same".