Delhi must produce smog plan

INDIA’S top court yesterday has given the federal government two days to chalk out a plan to tackle alarming levels of smog in Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital.

An environmental body filed a petition with the Supreme Court earlier this week demanding a review of the government’s previous lacklustre attempts to control the pollution levels, describing it as a public health emergency.

Delhi has been shrouded in a toxic soup in recent days as pollution levels spiked after the Diwali festival which is marked by setting off highly polluting fireworks.

The air quality generally worsens with the onset of winter, as farmers in neighbouring states burn crop stubble after the harvest and cooler temperatures trap pollutants in a smoggy haze over the city.

The government asked the court yesterday for two days to come up with a plan, which was granted.

“Give me two days. We will have a meeting with the environment secretary and come up with a comprehensive response to the problem of Delhi pollution,” India’s solicitor-general, Ranjit Kumar, told the court.

In a separate hearing in India’s Environment Court yesterday, Judge Swantanter Kumar slammed Delhi authorities and four of its neighbouring states for not taking action sooner.

“What did you do when all this smog was going on and the particulate matter reached beyond prescribed limits?” he asked.

The Delhi government on Monday also shut schools for three days, banned all construction work for five days and temporarily closed a coal-fired power plant.

Authorities are also considering cloud-seeding to produce rain, a technique Beijing used to clear the air before the 2008 Olympic Games. – AFP