rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
After being exposed to severely toxic air for 32 days, Delhi has now seen improvement, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) moving from severe to poor category.
This improvement – although still far from being substantial and healthy – can be mainly attributed to the weather and improved air conditions.
In mid-November, when Delhi’s AQI crossed the severe category, the Supreme Court intervened in the matter. As a result, Phase-4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was implemented by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which comes under the Union Environment Ministry.
Although GRAP-IV bans polluting vehicles, construction and demolition activities, hardly any improvement in air quality was seen in the days that followed. Classes went online, half the government employees worked from home, and air purifiers sold like hot cakes—sales reportedly doubled in Delhi in November.
The question is, why did Delhi’s air quality continue to deteriorate despite the strict steps directed by the court?
Hearing the case on November 28, the top court pointed out the “gross failure” of authorities in implementing GRAP-IV measures and pulled up the state governments of the National Capital Region (NCR), including Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh .
The court based this observation on reports submitted by 13 court commissioners—supreme court advocates—who were appointed to inspect whether GRAP-IV measures were being properly implemented.
The QuintAccessed these reports, which highlight widespread violations in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Meerut and other border points with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
In the last hearing held on Monday, December 2, the Supreme Court said, “Very shocking things have emerged from all the four reports filed by the Court Commissioners.” We have found that there is a complete lack of coordination between stakeholders like Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Police and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
‘Large scale construction in South Delhi, Greater Noida
Court Commissioner Manan Verma’s report said that “construction, renovation, painting, polishing etc. were taking place in the houses of various senior officials of HUDCO, BHEL, RITES, HAL and ITPO in the Asian Games Village, New Delhi.”
The report also said that large-scale construction work is going on in Greater Noida.
Meanwhile, Court Commissioners Jatin Kumar and Savi Nagpal informed about the ongoing construction work on the toll of Dwarka Expressway in the early hours of November 30.
Furthermore, Verma observed that plumes of smoke were coming out from the chimneys of various factories operating in Greater Noida.
Threat to court commissioner, said ‘get the work done by senior officer’
In the previous hearing, Court Commissioner Manan Verma told that he was “threatened” when he was on duty and inspecting the site where construction was taking place.
“On November 29, I visited Asiad Village in Khelgaon to inspect the area for GRAP violations. Construction work was being done in a house with BHEL nameplate. 5-6 workers were there,” he claimed.
Verma said that as soon as he started taking photographs, a man came out of the house and asked him who he was. When Verma told him he was on court duty, the man told him, “He is getting work done for a very senior officer,” Verma alleged.
“He started intimidating me by questioning my right to take photographs of the house and asked for my ID. After this he also started threatening my presence. Without saying anything, I immediately left the site,” Verma said in the report.
Expressing strong objection to this, the Supreme Court directed Delhi Police to file a report on the action taken and present it in the next hearing. It also condemned the fact that toll officials were live reporting the whereabouts of court commissioners on a WhatsApp group.
The Supreme Court said, “We cannot allow the members of the bar to risk their lives as reports indicate that some of them were given threats.” And asked Delhi Police to ensure their security. The top court said it will take a decision on relaxing GRAP-IV to GRAP-III restrictions on Thursday, November 5.
‘Unclaimed construction material is raising dust’
While inspecting areas in South Delhi, Court Commissioner Srishti Mishra found that unclaimed construction material on roadsides was raising dust. In addition, there is a dedicated area by the Public Works Department for dumping construction debris (painting) are open and spreading a lot of dust.
To make matters worse, dust suppression measures are inadequate.
“There are only two water sprinklers dedicated to a large area. There is only one driver and no helper. In fact, that one driver remains on duty 24X7 without any break,” the report said.
It recommended not only increasing the number of water sprinklers but also increasing the manpower for effective implementation.
Verma’s report also identifies locations in Greater Noida where large piles of dust are lying unattended and contributing to deteriorating air quality.
‘5.5 lakh kilograms of wood is burnt daily in Delhi’
Mishra visited two slums—Singhi Basti (in Rangpuri) and Sapera Basti (in Mayur Vihar)—and found that most households were still using kerosene/wood as a cooking medium because they had no There were no gas stoves.
Mishra said in the document that more than 2.36 lakh families live in 675 slum clusters in Delhi, and on an average each household burns 4-5 kg of wood per day.
“Even assuming that half of these households burn wood every day, somewhere between 5 lakh and 50 thousand kg of wood is being burnt every day in NCT of Delhi,” Mishra recorded in the report.
He said that Delhi government needs to provide LPG cylinders to these families.
Additionally, Verma’s report mentions large amounts of garbage being burnt in Greater Noida and Gurgaon, while Manubarwala points to garbage burning in Burari (North Delhi) and no action being taken by the authorities.
Kumar and Nagpal reported stubble burning in Jharoda village (in south-west Delhi) and said police officials took no action against the miscreants.
‘Trucks are entering Delhi violating the ban, one crore old cars are running in the city’
GRAP-IV measures ban the entry of diesel-powered trucks and light commercial vehicles in Delhi, except those carrying essential goods (medicines, raw vegetables, fruits, grains, milk, eggs, meat, fish and ice). Are going or walking. CNG, or electric or meet BS-VI emission standards.
Nevertheless, a large number of diesel trucks entered Delhi from the Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway (DND). In the absence of CCTV cameras or any Delhi Transport employeeThis is stated in a report presented by Court Commissioner Mohit Siwach.
It also said that vehicles coming from Noida to Delhi via Kalindi Kunj got stuck in a kilometer long traffic jam due to police barricading, causing more pollution in the area.
Kumar and Nagpal found 15-20 trucks parked for 4-5 days in Daurala area on the Delhi-Haryana border. These trucks were refused entry because they were carriers of construction materials. “However, no official came from Delhi or Haryana invoice He or she was removed,” the report said.
Meanwhile, Mishra said that there are more than one crore vehicles plying in Delhi-NCR and how many such vehicles have been seized as they are major polluters.
“As per CAQM data, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan have 10, 09 and 02 Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSF) to get rid of old cards. Delhi has 4 automated vehicle testing facilities and shares the RVSF with neighboring states. To curb this menace, there is a need to set up more RVSFs in Delhi and other NCR-states,” Mishra said.
‘There is no Delhi government employee to monitor the border posts’
“It is pertinent to mention that no official of the transport department, MCD or DPCC was present at Suraj Kund and bridge Pahladpur (Faridabad),” the report by court commissioners Aditya Prasad and Pratyush Jain said. It said there were no check posts/barricades or personnel present on the Haryana side at these border points.
Similarly, Court Commissioners Manisha Chava and Abhinav Aggarwal pointed out that “there were no CCTV cameras at the DND border” and “no citizen volunteers or Delhi government team was present.”
The report said that despite being a major border point between Delhi and Noida, there is not a single CCTV camera installed around the toll on DND.
It was also told that the U-turn at Ghazipur post on Delhi-Noida border is 8 km away. This means that a default truck, which was turned back from the check post, had traveled 16 km in Delhi before exiting.
Furthermore, the report also states that due to poor connectivity, e-challan machines are working at a slow speed, causing traffic jams and worsening air quality.
Court Commissioner Aditya Bharat Manubarwala recommended that vehicles should be inspected even before they reach the borders of Delhi NCR – for example in Meerut. “If the inspection takes place only at the Delhi border, the vehicles that are stopped and turned back would have already contributed to significant pollution during their journey.”
He also said there were prolonged traffic jams at border points, where aggressive checking was being done, “which ultimately led to more pollution and served no purpose.”
‘Air pollution may cause more deaths than Covid-19’
While these violations were rampant and officials turned a blind eye, Delhiites held their breath.
According to the report submitted by Court Commissioner Manan Verma, breathing Delhi’s air on December 1 was equivalent to smoking 14 cigarettes. Here are some of the studies they cited in their report:
When asked about it through a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav, replying on November 29, said, “There is no data in the country to establish a direct link to disease specifically caused by air pollution.” Conclusive data are not available.”
He stated that the health effects of air pollution are “a synergistic expression of factors that include food habits, occupational habits, socioeconomic status, medical history, immunity, and heredity.”
