Air Pollution: SC directs Centre to hold emergency meeting, consider Work From Home

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to call an emergency meeting on Tuesday to take measures like stopping non-essential construction transport, power plants and implementing work from home.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, directed the concerned secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab and Delhi to attend the meeting to make their submissions before the committee formed by it.

In a significant disclosure, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that farm waste burning was found to be accounting for just 10 per cent of the emissions on average through the year.

"So far, as stubble burning is concerned, broadly affidavits state that their contribution is not so much except for two months. However, at present a good amount of stubble burning is taking place in Haryana and Punjab," the bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant said.

"The affidavit filed by respondents and after hearing we come to the conclusion the major culprits of pollution are construction activity, industry, tansport, power and vehicular traffic apart from stubble burning in some parts. Even though some decisions were taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act has not indicated precisely what steps they are going to take to control factors that are causing air pollution.

The top court also asked the state governments of Punjab and Haryana to convince the farmers for two weeks not to do stubble burning.

"We direct the government of India, NCR states to examine introducing work from home for employees," the bench said.

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