The Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and surrounding areas informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has established a Special Enforcement Task Force to oversee and ensure the implementation of its statutory directives aimed at controlling air pollution, PTI reported.
In a compliance report submitted to the court, the air quality panel announced that 40 flying squads and inspection teams, supported by the Central Pollution Control Board, have been deployed to assist the task force.
The teams will conduct regular checks to detect significant violations of the commission’s statutory directives, the report said.
The task force has been constituted under the 2021 Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas Act, the commission told a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court reprimanded the state governments of Punjab and Haryana for only collecting nominal compensation from farmers who burn paddy stubble, the Hindustan Times reported.
Air quality deteriorates sharply in the winter months in Delhi, which is often ranked the world’s most polluted capital. Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, along with falling temperatures, decreased wind speed and emissions from industries and coal-fired plants contribute to air pollution.
The court also criticised the Commission for Air Quality Management for its inability to address the problem of stubble burning around the national capital, adding that the panel had made no effort to implement its directives to prevent such incidents.
The commission said that it has issued directions to the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to create detailed and monitorable action plans for addressing the problem, PTI reported.
It said that the task force meets regularly to assess the situation and closely monitor the implementation and compliance of directives and orders issued by the commission.
“Non-conformities/non-compliances in respect of various directions identified by the flying squads are presented before the ETF (task force) for deliberations and deciding action against such serious violators,” it added.
The panel informed the bench that flying squads have conducted inspections at more than 18,900 sites since their inception.
The entire Indo-Gangetic plain, especially the densely-populated National Capital Region, faces consistently poor air quality throughout the year due to unfavourable climatic conditions and higher levels of human activities, the report noted.
It said that the commission had issued 1,099 orders to close down units that are seriously violating rules in several areas of the National Capital Region.
Since 2018-’19, the commission reported that the Union government had released Rs 1,681.8 crore to Punjab and Rs 1,081.7 crore to Haryana under the crop residue management scheme, the commission said.
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