Autobayng News Team
The Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing a plea on stubble burning that has worsened air quality in Delhi-NCR, said the Centre must craft a long-term pollution-control plan that brings all stakeholders on board.”The solution cannot be just imposing restrictions for one or two months, but should be long-term,” noted Chief Justice BR Gavai.
Gavai added measures like perennial GRAP would affect the livelihood of migrant daily wagers and labourers in Delhi.
The court had earlier asked for detailed reports from the governments of Punjab and Haryana on the measures taken to curb the practice.Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan warned that Delhi is facing an “emergency situation” as stubble-burning emissions continue to rise despite previous judicial interventions. He argued that the core solution lies in shifting the paddy sowing cycle in Punjab and Haryana by two months, a strategy he said has succeeded in regions such as California and Beijing.
Sankaranarayanan emphasised that India’s AQI emergency thresholds are far higher than WHO norms, exposing the public — especially children — to irreversible PM2.5 damage. He urged the Court to “crack the whip,” insisting that drastic measures, including taxation on cars, may be required since “everyone gets affected.”Amicus Curiae Aparajita Singh submitted that the existing systems significantly undercount the actual extent of stubble burning, with the CAQM itself acknowledging that current methods cannot capture all incidents. She highlighted media reports suggesting that farmers were advised to burn fields only after NASA satellite passes, indicating manipulation of detection windows.A bench comprising Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria had earlier agreed to hear the plea on November 17. “Let Punjab and Haryana governments respond on steps taken to control stubble burning,” the Chief Justice Gavai had said. In the previous hearing on November 12, the bench expressed concern over deteriorating air quality despite the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan and directed Punjab and Haryana to file detailed affidavits outlining the steps taken to curb stubble burning. Air quality monitoring failures raise alarm
Singh had earlier flagged media reports indicating that several air quality monitoring stations in Delhi were not functioning during the Diwali period, reports ThePrint.
“There are newspapers after newspapers saying that monitoring stations are non-functional. If the monitoring stations are not even functioning, we don’t even know when to implement GRAP… Out of 37 monitoring stations, only nine were functioning continuously on the day of Diwali,” she said.
Sankaranarayanan had pointed out that GRAP III was currently in force and urged that GRAP IV be implemented immediately, reports NDTV. “The AQI has crossed 450 at some places. There is drilling and excavation happening outside a court here, that shouldn’t be allowed, at least within these premises,” he submitted.
The court agreed to examine whether farmers in Punjab and Haryana were burning crop stubble after satellite mapping of farm fires had passed over their areas. Singh told the court that the number of fires detected by satellites did not match the number of ground fire spots.
The amicus urged the bench to ensure that CAQM submits clear data and an action plan. However, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati assured the bench that the agencies concerned will file the required report.
Court warns against reactive approach to pollution
According to The Tribune, the court, on November 3, directed the Commission for Air Quality Management to file an affidavit detailing steps taken to prevent further deterioration of air pollution in Delhi-NCR. The bench, hearing the MC Mehta case, said that the authorities must act proactively and not wait for pollution levels to reach a “severe” stage.
From April to May and October to November each year, farmers mainly in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh burn an estimated 35 million tonnes of crop waste from their wheat and paddy fields after harvesting as a low-cost straw-disposal practice to reduce the turnaround time between harvesting and sowing for the first crop and the second crop.
After paddy is harvested in mid and late October, the fields are left with a stubble of stalks about two feet high. Because the wheat sowing cycle begins in late October, farmers have very little time to prepare their fields, so they typically set fire to the stubble and then clear the residue.
Health and environmental impact
The burning of stubble produces smoke that forms a visible cloud of particulates visible from space and has led to what has been described as a toxic cloud over New Delhi, prompting declarations of an air-pollution emergency. One tonne of straw has the potential to release up to 60kg of carbon monoxide, 1,460kg of carbon dioxide, 199kg of ash and 2kg of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.
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