Uncertainty looms over Lanka-Bangla World Cup clash due to severe air pollution
Top officials of the environment ministry, Delhi Development Authority and municipal commissioners also stayed away from the deliberations.
A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, set up a five-member Committee to probe Thursday's gas leak incident in the chemical factory, in which 11 people were killed and 1,000 exposed, and submit a report before May 18.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that primary schools will be closed from Saturday in view of spike in pollution levels in the national capital.
The central government's Great Nicobar development project, proposed around an unprecedented transhipment port, will be executed to keep environmental impact minimal, and is essential as it is of national importance, the government has said amid calls to abort the controversial project due to ecological concerns, the Centre said in an official statement.
Doctors have declared the situation as a 'public health emergency', while the government has taken a series of measures in view of high pollution levels.
The lion's share of the amount -- Rs 1,003 crore (till November 10) -- comes from an Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) imposed by the Supreme Court in 2015 on trucks entering Delhi while the rest is made up of cess on every litre of diesel sold, in effect since 2008.
The dramatic reversal in the situation caught people and weather scientists unaware.
The problem is so severe that multiple agencies have issued several precautionary measures.
Experts said while meteorological conditions were "moderately" favourable for dispersion of pollutants, a "very high" number of farm fires in Punjab was the primary reason for "severe" air quality.
Authorities alerted people to avoid staying outdoors and L-G ordered to halt all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday.
Air quality in Delhi and its suburbs dropped to the severe category again on Wednesday morning, with smoke from post-harvest paddy straw burning in neighbouring states accounting for one-third of the air pollution in the national capital.
In 2012, with one million deaths, China reported the highest toll from PM2.5 and PM10 pollution. At the time, India followed, reporting 621,138 deaths, nearly 10 per cent of the global toll associated with outdoor and indoor air pollution
The air quality in Delhi is turning worse, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
'If businessmen should be included in the political process -- which is essential in my opinion -- they need to have the freedom to express themselves and to take stands against the government of the day, without fear of reprisals and attacks on their business.'
The minimum temperature in the national capital on Saturday settled at 10.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average, it said.
According to forecasting agencies, the city is set to record its best air quality for the day after Diwali since 2015 on Tuesday.
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NHRC issues notices to Centre and governments of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, saying 'the state cannot leave its citizens to die due to the toxic haze.'
Pollution levels were inching towards 'severe plus emergency' category due to a change in wind direction and rampant stubble burning in neighbouring states
Three expert members -- Rajendra Singh, Ravi Chopra and Rashid Siddiqui -- have resigned from the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
Delhi recorded an air quality index of 315 at 11:10 am. The last time the air quality hit such a poor level was in February.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi government's order putting a comprehensive ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city, saying people's health is important.
A CPCB official said a number of factors were responsible for the deteriorating air quality, including vehicular pollution, construction activities and meteorological factors.
Responding to a question on the issue of felling trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest, in which the Supreme Court has restrained authorities from cutting anymore trees, Javadekar told the reporters that he would not like to comment on a sub judice matter.
The air quality in Delhi remained poor Sunday with drop in wind speed even as authorities predicted further fall in air quality index of the national capital in the coming days.
The dense cover of grey haze shrouding Delhi for almost a week, reminiscent of the 1952 Great Smog in London, plunged the city's air quality to the season's worst.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta also directed the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board to place before it the data of pollution in Delhi from October till November 14 this year. The bench also directed them to submit pollution data from October 1 to December 31, 2018.
With the Government actively looking for ways to check pollution in river Ganga, Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti on Monday said immersion of mortal remains would not be allowed on the banks of the holy river.
Delhi woke up to the season's worst air quality as smoke from Diwali fireworks, coupled with moisture and nearly stagnant wind movement, shrouded the city in a thick cover of smog with respirable pollutants reaching perilous levels.
E-waste accounts for 70 per cent of Indian landfills.
The United States embassy's pollution monitor recorded 'hazardous' air quality with the index scoring an alarming 878, which the mission considers 'beyond its air quality index' (AQI), which ends at 500.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked all the states to explain within six weeks as to why they should not be made liable to pay compensation to persons affected by bad air quality saying it is their bounden duty to provide basic civic amenities, clean air and drinking water to citizens.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to expand the eight-hour night-time ban period on bursting of crackers and voiced unhappiness over the government's failure to run a campaign to create public awareness during Diwali time on the ill-effects of fireworks.
Cars with engine capacity of 2000 cc and above will not be registered in Delhi and National Capital Region till March 31, 2016
"We do not want all children to become ninjas," a senior lawyer told the Supreme Court on Thursday, taking a cue from Chief Justice H L Dattu's reference to his grandson looking like a ninja by wearing a mask to avoid high levels of pollution in Delhi.
With CPCB saying that the air quality is not severe now, the SC partially lifted its ban.
Stating that 'we cannot...infuse creativity in your bureaucracy', the apex court warned it will have to do something extraordinary if the authorities failed to control pollution.
"The overall Delhi's Air Quality Index is in the very poor category with few Delhi locations entering at higher zone but that will be short lived. This is mainly because the extremely calm local surface winds which were prevailing yesterday are likely to increase slightly and may further pick-up by Oct 26," SAFAR said.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
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