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Supreme Court said- 3000 metric tons of garbage is not being treated in MCD area. By 2027 it will become 6000 metric tons.
Trees will be counted in Delhi. On Thursday, the bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih in the Supreme Court ordered the tree census. The bench told the Delhi Tree Authority that for cutting 50 or more trees, permission will have to be obtained from the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
The bench said on Delhi’s air pollution – the situation in the capital city is very disastrous. Nothing will be achieved by bickering between the two sides in the court. Delhi government should take steps for its improvement. The court’s comment came when the issue of solid waste management came up during the hearing on Delhi air pollution. The bench also expressed concern over this.
Justice Abhay S Oka said- 3000 metric tonnes of garbage is not being treated in the MCD area. By 2027 it will become 6000 metric tons. Mr. Chief Secretary please file an affidavit by 27th January, telling us very honestly which deadlines in the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016 were followed and which were not.
The bench has also said that in the affidavit, details of the steps taken to stop the fire due to illegal dumping of garbage in Ghazipur-Bhalswa should also be given. The bench also talked about stopping the construction work, so that solid waste production can be controlled.
Order to conduct tree census in Delhi The bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih asked the Delhi Tree Authority to involve the Forest Research Institute (FRI) for the enumeration of trees and take the help of enumeration specialists.
The bench said- Trees are a very important part of our environment. As a precautionary measure, the government should anticipate, prevent and eliminate the causes of environmental degradation. This also includes taking strict action against those who do so.
This order of the court came on the PIL filed by environmentalist MC Mehta in 1985. On December 18, the court had said that the laws on trees are not for cutting them but for saving them.
The bench said-
After receiving the documents related to permission to cut trees, CEC will be able to call the tree officer at any time for additional documents. CEC will do on the application and other things. After this it will decide whether permission to cut trees should be given or not. If it should be given then with what terms and conditions. We make it clear that when granting permission to fell 50 or more trees, unless there is an exception, a condition for planting trees should be imposed. Otherwise permission for harvesting should not be given.
Trees will not be cut without CEC permission The bench proposed to appoint an agency which could suggest steps towards increasing the greenery of Delhi. It had highlighted the need for census of trees in the national capital and said it wanted to create an authority to monitor the work done by the tree officer.
The court has directed that if the tree officer gives permission to cut 50 or more trees, but the trees will not be cut without the permission of the CEC. The counting of trees will be done with the help of three specialists retired IFS Ishwar Singh, Sunil Limaye and tree expert Pradeep Singh.
What happened in the first hearing in the Supreme Court…
12 December: The Supreme Court had also directed to implement some measures of GRAP-3. These include water sprinkling, cleaning of roads with machines and increasing public transport service.
5 December: The restrictions of GRAP- 4 were reduced and allowed to convert into GRAP- 2. Also, CAQM was instructed to implement GRAP-3 restrictions if AQI is more than 350 and GRAP-4 restrictions if it is more than 400. Based on these instructions, this action has been taken today.
2 December: How much was paid to the workers after the restrictions came into force? We will see the AQI level again in the next three days. Once there is improvement, a decision will be taken on removing the restrictions of GRAP-4. The court had asked the Chief Secretaries of Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and UP governments, ‘How much was paid to how many construction workers after the implementation of GRAP-4 restrictions. He should be present in the hearing on 5th December. Delhi government said that it has ordered immediate payment of Rs 5,000 to 90,000 construction workers.
25 November: The Commission should tell how to open the schools. We will see the AQI level again in the next two days, if there is some improvement then we can consider removing clauses 5 and 8 of GRAP- 4. The question is whether there is a need for relaxation in the norms of GRAP- 4. Unless the court is satisfied that there is a steady decline in AQI, permission cannot be given to move to GRAP- 3 or GRAP- 2. The court also asked what is the status of checking at 113 entry points in Delhi.
22 November: The government did not do anything on the entry ban of trucks. The court said that we are not satisfied with the efforts of the Delhi government. The government has not done anything to stop the entry of trucks. The court further said, ‘Why are there only 13 CCTVs at 113 entry points. The Center should deploy police at all these entry points. A legal team should be formed to see whether the entry of vehicles is really being banned or not. For this we will deploy young lawyers from the Bar Association.
18 November: Make classes online up to 12th. The Supreme Court had ordered to make schools up to 12th online. The court had said that schools up to class 10th have been made online. Are the lungs of 11th and 12th class children different? The Supreme Court bench had directed the governments in the Delhi-NCR region to implement all necessary restrictions of GRAP- 3 and GRAP- 4 to bring down the AQI level.
14 November: The bench had asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) why precautionary measures were not taken before the air quality reached the severe category. In fact, Amicus Curiae had said – CAQM should explain why they did not implement GRAP-3 before allowing AQI to deteriorate.
11 November: No religion supports activities that increase pollution, clean air is a fundamental right. The Supreme Court had said on the violation of the order to ban firecrackers during Diwali that no religion supports activities that increase pollution. Delhi government should decide in two weeks whether the firecracker ban should be extended for the whole year or not. The court said- Living in a clean environment is the fundamental right of every citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution.
4 November: Something has to be done so that the order to ban firecrackers is not violated next year also. The bench said that we will have to take some steps so that the orders to ban firecrackers are not violated during Diwali next year. Citing media reports, the bench said that strict action like sealing the campus is needed against those violating the ban.
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Other news related to Delhi pollution…
Pollution increases again in Delhi, ban on road construction: Major repairing work will not be done, classes up to fifth will run in hybrid mode.
AQI level 366 was recorded in Delhi at 2:30 pm on 16 December. Following this, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) re-imposed GRAP-3 (Graded Response Action Plan) restrictions in the city. These restrictions are applicable in NCR areas also. This level of AQI indicates very poor category of air. Read the full news…
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