The Supreme Court will hear today about pollution in Delhi. In the last hearing on November 25, the court had said that till the pollution level is reduced, GRAP-4 will be applicable in Delhi. Also, the Air Quality Commission has been asked to inform within two days when schools will open in Delhi at the earliest.
Hearing the case, a bench of Justice Abhay Oak and Justice Augustine George Masih said that we must also accept that technology alone will not improve this. We have to find a permanent solution to the problem.
Previous hearings and court statements…
- November 25: The commission should state how schools will open We will see the AQI level again in the next couple of days, if there is some improvement we may consider removing clauses 5 and 8 of Grape IV. The question now is whether there is a need to relax the norms of Grape IV. until the court is satisfied that the AQI is continuously decreasing. We cannot allow to go to Grape 3 or Grape 2. Also, the court asked what is the status of checking at 113 entry points in Delhi.
- November 22: Govt does nothing on truck ban The court said that we are not satisfied with the efforts of the Delhi government. The government has also done nothing to stop the entry of trucks. The court further said that why there are only 13 CCTVs at 113 entry points. The Center should deploy police at all these entry points. A legal team should be constituted to see if indeed the entry of vehicles is prohibited. For this we will deploy young lawyers from the Bar Association.
- November 18: Take online classes till class 12th The Supreme Court ordered schools up to class 12 to go online. The court said that schools up to class 10 have been made online. Do 11th and 12th graders have different lungs? Its bench directed the Delhi-NCR region governments to implement all necessary GRAP Stage 3 and Stage 4 controls to bring down the AQI level.
GRAP is imposed when AQI crosses 400 To check the air pollution level, it is divided into 4 categories. Standards and measures are fixed for each category. It is called a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Under its 4 categories, the government imposes restrictions and takes measures to reduce pollution.
Grapeno stage
- Stage I 'Bad' (AQI 201-300)
- Stage II 'Very Bad' (AQI 301-400)
- Stage III 'Severe' (AQI 401-450)
- Stage IV 'Very severe' (AQI >450)
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
