Smog cover over Delhi-NCR; air quality severe amid unhelpful meteorological conditions
New Delhi(PTI): A layer of smog shrouded Delhi-NCR on Thursday and partially blotted out the sun on Chhath Puja as the air quality slipped back into the severe zone with unfavourable meteorological conditions aiding accumulation of pollutants, authorities said.
Green think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said the ongoing smog episode is a public health emergency.
"This requires urgent emergency action on key combustion sources (vehicles, industry, waste burning) and dust sources (construction and roads) to prevent further trapping of pollution when there is no wind to blow this away," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE.
At 10 am, Delhi recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 407. Thirty-three of the 39 air quality monitoring stations in the national capital recorded air pollution levels in the severe category.
The 24-hour average AQI was 372 on Wednesday.
Ghaziabad (454), Greater Noida (404) and Noida (426) also recorded severe air quality at 10 am.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
An official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said shallow fog and low temperatures in the morning -- Delhi recorded the season's lowest temperature of 12.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday -- trapped pollutants close to the ground and calm winds led to stagnant conditions.
Visibility levels at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Safdarjung Airport dropped to 600-800 metres, he added.
The CSE said the current severe smog episode in Delhi-NCR is expected to last for two more days.
It also said the average daily contribution of smoke from farm fires from the middle of October to November 8 was the lowest in four years.
"Compared to the first smog episode of the previous four years, the current smog has matched the duration of the first smog of 2018 and 2020 season -- both lasted six days. If conditions do not improve, it might overtake the 2019 smog that lasted eight days," the CSE said.
The longer duration of this year's smog despite relatively windier local conditions might be due to a lack of pollution control measures in the city, the green think tank said.
On an average, the contribution of smoke to Delhi's daily PM2.5 from the middle of October to November 8 was the lowest in the last four years.
"So far, it has recorded an average of 12 per cent (farm fire share) per day in contrast to 17 per cent per day in 2020, 14 per cent per day in 2019 and 16 per cent per day in 2018 (as reported by SAFAR)," the CSE said.
The share of farm fires in Delhi's pollution rose to 48 per cent on Sunday, the highest since November 5, 2018, when it was recorded at 58 per cent.
Last year, the share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution had peaked at 42 per cent on November 5. In 2019, crop residue burning accounted for 44 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on November 1.
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SC imposes Rs 5 lakh costs on Centre for filing frivolous petition
New Delhi, Apr 25: The Supreme Court has imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh on the Centre for challenging a Meghalaya High Court order, holding it was "sheer abuse" of the process of law.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma said there was no occasion or justification for the Union of India to have challenged the order by way of a Special Leave Petition.
"The present petition is sheer abuse of the process of law. The petitioners are cautioned not to file such frivolous petitions in future.
"We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment(s) and order(s) of the High Court. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petition is dismissed with costs for the reason that before the High Court counsel for the petitioner (UoI) submitted that the matter was squarely covered by a previous decision and, accordingly, the High Court had disposed of the matter on the statement of the counsel for Union of India," the bench said.
The top court was hearing an appeal against the High Court order which upheld a Central Administrative Tribunal judgement.
The High Court had disposed of the matter after noting the Central government's submission that a similar plea had been rejected earlier.
"We, accordingly, impose a fine of Rs.5,00,000 to be paid by the petitioners which shall be deposited in Account of the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund, Canara Bank, Branch South Block, Defence Headquarters, within eight weeks...
"After depositing the said amount in the aforesaid fund, the petitioners to file proof of such deposit with the Registry of this Court within a week thereafter," the bench said.
