SC to hear plea on stubble burning pollution in Jan
NEWDELHI:THE Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear in January second week a plea seeking steps to curb pollution in Delhincr caused by stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
A bench of justices AK Sikri, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer said it is fixing the issue of stubble burning for final hearing in second week of January and asked the Union ministry of forests and environment, Haryana and Punjab, to file their response on the plea before the court by then.
It said that all pending applications including that of fire crackers manufacturers and compliance report of states with regard to use of green crackers will be taken up for hearing next month.
On October 23, the apex court had said that people in the country can burst firecrackers from 8pm to 10pm only on Diwali and other festivals and had allowed the manufacture and sale of just “green crackers” which have low emission of light, sound and
ALL PENDING APPLICATIONS WITH REGARD TO USE OF GREEN CRACKERS WILL BE TAKEN UP FOR HEARING NEXT MONTH
harmful chemicals.
It had said that issue of pollution through stubble burning would be dealt separately.
The court had carved out an exception for Christmas and the New Year eve, saying that crackers for these occasions would be burst between 11.55 pm and 12.30 am, since these celebrations start at midnight.
It had, however, allowed the firecrackers which have already been produced to be sold in other parts of the country for this Diwali and other festivals and occasions, including weddings.for Gurpurb, the court later allowed fireworks for one hour in the morning between 4am to 5am and one hour in the evening between 9pm to 10pm.