SC says bring environmental experts to court within 30 mins over Delhi air crisis

• SC asks Centre to call environmental experts, including from IIT, to the court within 30 minutes.
• The apex court blamed the state government for the high levels of pollution across all major stations in Delhi.
• Pollution level in Delhi peaked to a three-year high on Sunday

The Supreme Court of India asked the Indian government to call environmental experts from IIT, and other top institutions within half an hour to address the hearing on Delhi’s pollution crisis. It further took serious note of crop burning in Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, says it cannot go unabated every year.

“Can we survive in this atmosphere? This is not the way we can survive, Delhi is choking every year and it cannot be done in a civilised country. No one is safe even inside homes; it is atrocious. People are losing precious years of their lives due to pollution,” said SC on Delhi-NCR pollution.

The apex court blamed the state government for the high levels of pollution across all major stations in Delhi. SC said it will not tolerate this and make state governments liable for them.

Delhi records poorest air quality in 3 years

Pollution level in Delhi peaked to a three-year high on Sunday notwithstanding claims of heightened checks and curbs by authorities. The Centre reviewed the situation with the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab and announced that Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba would monitor it on a daily basis.

After Delhi, all schools up to Class 12 were also closed in the National Capital Region till Tuesday. Heavy smog disrupted traffic at Delhi airport as 37 flights were diverted and more than 250 departures and 300 arrivals were delayed were due to poor visibility, officials said.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the national capital's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 494 at 4 pm on Sunday, the highest since November 6, 2016 when it was 497.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called Delhi a "gas chamber" and blamed stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab for the apocalyptic haze shrouding Delhi.

The share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution stood at 46% on Friday, the highest so far. It dropped to 17% on Saturday and is expected to be at 12% on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor SAFAR.

(With inputs from PTI)

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