The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Punjab Government to oversee the issue of stubble burning that gave rise to a drop in the air quality in the national capital.
Taking a dig at the Punjab government, a bench of Justices of the Supreme Court SK Kaul and S Dhulia said the problem is known to everyone, however, the state government should have taken proper measures combat the situation.
The court in its statement to Punjab, Delhi, and BJP-led Uttar Pradesh Governments said, “This is the most polluted November in six years… the problem is known (and) it is your job to control it.”
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Meanwhile, defending the farmers, the bench of justices said the farmers are made unneceassarily made villain as they cannot be heard in the court. They further said it is the duty of the state government to find out the reason behind stubble burning.
The bench of justices also directed the Punjab government to take some serious action like haryana Government who provided financial support to farmers for following environment-friendly crop processing habits.
“They should learn from Haryana regarding incentives given to farmers,” the court observed.
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This came after the state police reported 984 FIRs against landlords and farmers over stubble burning, and 8,481 meetings held with farmer communities to reduce burning crop waste.
Every winter, the air quality in Delhi and surrounding regions plunges to extremely toxic levels, triggering widespread health scares and forcing schools and colleges to shut down for days. This morning the AQI was at 323, indicating ‘very poor’ air quality, central government data said.