Put an end to stubble burning, it's your job: Supreme Court slams Punjab, Haryana & other states

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 7

As the Delhi-NCR continues to be a virtual gas chamber due to smog, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to take immediate steps to stop stubble burning by farmers – the main reason behind higher levels of air pollution during this season. It said it could not let people die due to pollution.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul made the local SHO under the supervision of the DGP and the Chief Secretary of the respective state responsible for ensuring that stubble burning was stopped. From today onwards, they must start working on it, the Bench said.

“We want it (stubble burning) stopped. We don’t know how you do it… it’s your job. But it must be stopped. Something has to be done immediately,” the Bench – which also included Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia — told Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh.

Directing the Cabinet Secretary to convene a meeting on Wednesday with all stakeholders to ensure that crop burning is stopped forthwith, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on Friday when it will monitor the progress.

“We do not care how you do it… it must stop. Whether by forceful actions and sometimes by incentives, you have to stop the fire. Your administration must do so,” it added. “Residents of Delhi are grappling with health problems year after year because we cannot find a solution to the issue. It requires immediate attention and court monitoring irrespective of the fact whether the matter improves or not,” the Bench said.

“There cannot be a political battle every time… Delhi cannot be made to go through this year after year,” it noted.

The top court also questioned the effectiveness of the Delhi Government’s odd-even car rationing scheme aimed at curbing air pollution, terming it “all optics”.

Seeking to know from the Delhi Government counsel if the odd-even scheme had succeeded earlier, the Bench said, “These are all optics, this is the problem.” The top court ordered the Delhi Government to ensure that municipal solid waste was not burnt in the open. As amicus curiae Aparajita Singh said the smog towers installed by the Delhi Government were not working, Justice Kaul termed it “ludicrous” and ordered the Arvind Kejriwal government to take immediate steps to repair them.

It also directed the Delhi Government to ensure that only the taxis registered in Delhi plied in the national Capital during the air pollution crisis.

Stating that farmers were burning stubble due to economic reasons and to save time to sow the next crop, the Punjab Advocate General suggested that the Centre should give subsidies to provide the required facilities.

The Bench agreed with his suggestion that paddy cultivation should be phased out and substituted with other less water-guzzling crops; and the Centre must explore the options for giving the minimum support price for other crops such as millets. Pollution levels in Delhi were “very poor” on Tuesday morning after five consecutive days of severe air quality. Several cities in neighbouring Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh also reported hazardous air quality levels. Ghaziabad recorded an AQI of 338, Gurugram 364, Noida 348, Greater Noida 439 and Faridabad 382.

Delhi L-G hits out at AAP’s measures

The Delhi Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday said the odd-even scheme announced by the AAP government was nothing but an attempt to “mislead” people and courts to “divert” attention from the crisis caused by air pollution in the national Capital

Figures don’t add up in Punjab, haryana

56,000 farmers harvested paddy in Ludhiana, but just 993 farm fires recorded

56,743 registered on portal for paddy sale in Karnal, but only 12K applied for incentive for not burning straw