NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday allowed easing of stringent anti-pollution curbs under Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) Stage 4 in NCR, and replacing these with Grap-2 measures. However, it said Grap-3 should be imposed immediately if AQI goes above 350 and Grap-4 should kick in if it crosses 400.
Grap-4 was imposed in NCR on Nov 18 when airpollution reached ‘severe plus’ levels with AQI above 450. During the last 18 days, AQI had been improving but the court had turned down repeated requests to relax curbs and had said it would do so only when there was a steady downward trend in pollution levels.
Noting that AQI had continuously improved in the last few days, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih allowed the plea of Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for relaxation.
Appearing for CAQM, additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati told the SC bench that pollution had come down and that restrictions imposed under Grap-4 were devastating for many people.
Allowing the plea, the court left it for CAQM to decide whether some measures of GRAP-III could continue alongside GRAP-II curbs.
“Up to Nov 30, AQI levels were consistently above 300 and it is only during the last four days that the levels have come down below 300. It is true that at some stage the court will have to leave it to the commission to decide the applicability of stages under GRAP. Considering the data before us, we do not think it will be appropriate at this stage to allow the commission to go below Stage II. So, we permit the commission to go to Stage II for the present. It will be appropriate if the commission considers incorporating certain additional measures which are part of Stage III. While we permit the commission to do so, we must record here that if the commission finds that the AQI goes above 350, as a precautionary measure, Stage III measures will have to be immediately implemented. If AQI crosses 400 on a given day, Stage IV measures will have to be reintroduced,” the bench said.
The NCR witnessed 18 days of Grap-IVrestrictions during which construction work was banned and entry of goods trucks was also not allowed. Educational institutions were shut for a few days with only online classes being conducted. Later, SC allowed schools and colleges to operate in hybrid mode, with physical classes being supplemented with online lessons “wherever possible and required”.
GRAP-II curbs are aimed to prevent further degradation of air quality and include a series of measures targeting pollution from various sources. Under it, there will be restrictions on the use of coal and firewood as well as diesel generator sets in NCR.
Mechanical sweeping and water sprinkling on identified roads will be carried out on a daily basis, and dust control measures will be enforced at construction and demolition sites. Traffic personnel have to be deployed at congestion points, vehicle parking fees could be increased to discourage private transport and additional bus and Metro services will be started.