Apex court approves Centre's graded response to tackle pollution level

The Supreme Court on Friday approved the Centre’s action plan prepared in the form of graded response to tackle different levels of pollution in the Delhi-National Capital Region in view of worsening air quality.

A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to upgrade its existing infrastructure and set up additional monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR within six months.

The Centre, represented by Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, submitted that the pollution level would be called “severe” when Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels are above 250 to 430 micrograms per cubic metre in the ambient air.

“If air pollution reaches such alarming proportions, immediate steps would be needed to be taken, including ban on construction activities and the implementation of odd-even scheme,” he said.

Environmentalist Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment said the Centre’s graded response action plan to tackle levels of pollution from “moderate” to “poor”, “very poor” and “severe” can be put in operation.

Accepting the proposal, the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and S A Bobde, said, “Enforcement of graded response action plan shall be under the orders of the Environment Pollution (Control and Prevention) Authority (EPCA) and all other authorities should act in aid of such direction.”

The court also directed the Centre to examine within four weeks about harmful effects of petroleum coke and furnace oil used in industries and power generation plants in NCR and issue appropriate directions in this regard.

Kumar, on his part, said the CPCB proposed to upgrade its centralised control room with modern equipment at an estimated cost of Rs 57 lakh on hardware, internet and optical fibre.

The CPCB also plans to set up 12 real-time air monitoring stations in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Haryana, two in Rajasthan besides 20 new stations in Delhi apart from 28 existing ones, he said.

Senior advocate Harish Salve submitted that whenever air pollution reaches “severe” levels, immediate action should be imposed in the national capital.