NGT blasts authorities as players wear masks
NEW DELHI : The National Green Tribunal on Monday rapped the authorities for holding the third test match between India and Sri Lanka when pollution levels were in very poor category.
The tribunal also criticised the Delhi government for failing to file an action plan on how to bring down pollution, when air quality hits emergency levels.
On Sunday, Delhi’s toxic air had halted the Test match at Firozshah Kotla twice when a thick haze brought down visibility, arguably the first time an international game was disrupted by pollution.
“Every newspaper had been carrying headlines that pollution was going to be higher this week. Still you took no action. Even the players were wearing masks. You should not have held the match if the air quality was so bad. Are people of Delhi supposed to bear this?” said a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.
Pollution levels had been shooting up over the past few days because of low wind speed and high moisture levels. On Sunday while AQI had touched 351 on a scale of 500, levels of both PM10 and PM2.5 had shot up four times above safe standards. On Monday the AQI touched 390, just ten notches below severe category of pollution.
The NGT bench had on November 17 directed Delhi government and other NCR states to submit an action plan. The plan
POLLUTION LEVELS HAD BEEN SHOOTING UP OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS BECAUSE OF LOW WIND SPEED AND HIGH MOISTURE LEVELS
was supposed to contain measures that could come into force automatically when pollution hits emergency levels.
Even though Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have already submitted their plan, Delhi is yet to do so. The counsel for Delhi government said it needed more time to file the action plan as the chief secretary and environment secretary have been recently changed.
“Where is your action plan? Why have you not submitted it? What can we do if you keep on changing everybody? Tell us a single action or step you have taken in the last four days to combat air pollution,” the bench said.
The bench also came down heavily on the Delhi government for not introducing odd-even road rationing measure when the air quality is on the brink of hitting severe levels once again.
“You want exemptions for twowheelers but you don’t apply your mind that these 60-lakh vehicles cause the maximum pollution,” the bench observed.
It also said that despite assurances from the government that 4,000 buses would be introduced to decongest the city roads, not a single bus has been added to the existing fleet over the last three years.