SC thrashes Delhi govt over pollution, says it cannot 'shift the burden'

The Supreme Court on Friday slammed the AAP government in Delhi for not doing enough to tackle the national capital’s air pollution issue and for “shifting the burden.” Delhi has been witnessing thick smog and deteriorating air quality for the past couple of weeks owing to stubble burning in Punjab and other neighbouring states. “Don’t try to not perform and then shift the burden onto the court,” the apex court said during a hearing on the Delhi government’s submission on the odd-even scheme. The court also asked the Centre and Punjab government about what steps they are taking as a long-term measure to slowly phase out paddy to restore the water table in Punjab. “We want farm fires stopped, we want air quality to get better. It’s your business how it occurs,” says Supreme Court. Overnight rain led to a rapid improvement in Delhi’s air quality on Friday morning and cleared the haze that had been lingering for over 10 days. Delhi’s AQI stood at 376 at 9 am, rapidly improving from 408 at 7 am on Friday and 460 at 11 pm on Thursday. The air quality is expected to improve further due to wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, “People have to pray only, sometimes wind comes and helps, and sometimes rains. God may have heard the prayers of people and intervened, no thanks to the government.” The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier predicted a marginal improvement in air quality just ahead of Diwali owing to favourable meteorological conditions, including light rain. With inputs from agencies