The Supreme Court has pulled up authorities over the delay in implementing tough restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to tackle the capital’s bad air days.
The SC questioned the Delhi govt over the delay in invoking pollution preventive measures under different GRAP stages.
“How can you wait? Some sense of urgency needs to be there,” the SC tells Commission for Air Quality Management on implementing anti-pollution measures under GRAP. The SC says that the GRAP stages should be implemented immediately the moment AQI touches alarming level.
The court also told the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the national capital region and the Delhi government that restrictions under Stage 4 of GRAP — implemented after Air Quality Index crosses the 400 mark — must not be relaxed without its permission even if AQI drops below 300.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih pointed out that there was a delay in implementation of preventive measures under stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) even after the Air Quality Index (AQI) touched alarming levels in the national capital. At the outset, the counsel for the Delhi government informed the bench that stage 4 of GRAP has been implemented from Monday and heavy vehicles have been banned from entering the national capital.
