The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the air quality crisis in the national capital calls for a scientific study and suggested a statistical-based model on wind patterns to take advance measures to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR before the situation deteriorates.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said that advance measures must be taken to deal with Delhi’s air quality crisis.
It observed that when the weather becomes severe only then do governments take measures to control it.
“When the weather becomes severe then we take measures. These measures have to be taken in anticipation. You need to anticipate that weather is going to be severe with this wind pattern, these measures need to be taken in anticipation. The commission has to do a scientific study by having statistical models. That can happen through a statistical model for Delhi,” said the Bench.
“This is the National Capital, imagine the signal we are sending to the world. You have to predict the situation based on statistics… and take action in anticipation so that the situation does not go severe,” the Bench observed while suggesting the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining areas to rely on a statistical model.
It suggested that government should act on the basis of anticipation about wind patterns and scientific models based on the air pollution levels in different seasons, instead of waiting for taking emergency steps after the air quality has become severe.
Justice Chandrachud said, “You need to have a model for different seasons of Delhi, as you don’t have the same weather throughout. There has to be scientific analysis based on seasons of the year, causes of pollution and expected wind direction. This action has to be taken in advance. Why should Delhiites suffer from air quality which is poor or severe?”
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