Every year, Delhi-NCR faces a bad situation due to pollution in winters. People have to face respiratory diseases. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court has asked the government about the preparations before this. The country’s highest court asked the Air Quality Management Commission (CAQM), formed to control pollution in Delhi-NCR, to tell how it will deal with the uncontrollable increase in pollution in winters. That too in a situation when the pollution control boards of the states of NCR do not have adequate number of employees.
The apex court termed the pollution control boards of Delhi, Punjab, UP, Haryana and Rajasthan as ineffective due to massive shortage of staff and said that all the vacant posts should be filled by April 2025. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said that winter is about to come. Pollution will increase due to stubble burning and other reasons.
Every year, burning of paddy stubble in neighbouring states is cited as the main reason for pollution in Delhi-NCR. In such a situation, the question arises that when the pollution control boards of the states related to NCR do not have adequate number of employees, then how will the problem be dealt with. The apex court said that therefore we order the chairman of CAQM to appear on the next hearing of the case on September 2 through video conferencing. He will have to tell about his plan. The bench wondered how the sub-committee on safety and enforcement to be constituted by the commission would work with the lack of representation due to vacancies in the pollution control boards of the states of NCR.
It will be difficult to implement the instructions
Amicus curiae advocate Aparajita Singh informed the bench about the vacancies in the pollution boards of the states. Singh said that we are about to enter September and soon the problems of stubble burning and pollution will come to the fore. She said that in such a situation, it will be difficult to implement the instructions of the commission due to the shortage of staff in the boards.