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.
'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.'
With CPCB saying that the air quality is not severe now, the SC partially lifted its ban.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
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.
"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 overall air quality index was recorded at 426 which falls in the 'severe' category, according to data by the Central Pollution Control Board.
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.
For deciding which vehicles are to be scrapped, the setting up of fitness centres and regulating them would be a humongous task.
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 NGT has asked the Centre to respond to the plea of an environment enthusiast alleging that large-scale burning of municipal solid waste in Agra was turning the Taj Mahal yellow.
Sanitation is always clubbed with other departments, which lead to its neglect, says Devanik Saha.
Skies over Delhi hung heavy with smoke and its air quality inched towards "severe" category on Diwali night as people burst firecrackers in a blatant disregard to the government's ban against it, imposed amid an increase in the contribution from farm fires.
The smog reduced the visibility to merely 300 meters in the morning affecting traffic, an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
As visibility remained poor and the city choked due to a haze, the Centre for Science and Environment asked the Delhi govt to roll out stringent plans for controlling winter pollution.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea by Skoda Auto Volkswagen India challenging an FIR registered in Uttar Pradesh by a customer over the alleged use of 'cheat device' in its diesel car by the company to manipulate emission norms.
The air quality had turned 'severe' on Saturday evening with stubble burning accounting for 32 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution, but firecracker emissions and calm winds made the situation even worse.
The top court observed that even in reserve forests, there are no concrete roads and the safari vehicles ply on forest roads.
Pollution levels in Delhi during the Diwali period are likely to remain in the higher end of the 'very poor' category in the absence of emissions due to fireworks, the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR said.
The city also recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius, 16 notches below normal and the lowest in the month of May since 1951, the IMD said.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
The NGT directed the Delhi govt not to implement the scheme unless it established that it was not counter-productive.
Thirteen cities of the country had an average Air Quality Index above 400, which falls in "severe" category, with seven of them in Uttar Pradesh, five in Haryana and one in Bihar, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
13 out of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in India. Most shockingly, the latest Central Pollution Control Board statistics reveal that the pollution levels in Gwalior, Raipur and even little known Kashipur are higher than that of Delhi which means we have some of the most polluted zones in the world.
Govt has done away with the need to secure crucial permits.
In its petition, PETA has contended that manja posed a grave threat to humans and animals as every year a number of deaths are caused by it.
A city resident doesn't find Delhi to be livable anymore.
It is believed that the crop residue burning in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana are contributing to polluting the air.
People living in Delhi should be more concerned about pollution levels rather than hosting a cricket match, said former India opener Gautam Gambhir.
According to SAFAR, both stubble burning in surrounding states of Delhi and firecrackers are causing deterioration of air quality in the national capital.
There is a proposal to term forests as areas so notified and not include plantations on private land.
The neighbouring cities of Faridabad (469), Greater Noida (464), Ghaziabad (470), Gurgaon (472) also recorded 'severe' air pollution levels.
Mercury hovered around 40 degrees Celsius in large parts of the country on Monday as the Indian meteorological department predicted heat wave conditions in parts of east India over the next four days and the northwest region over the next two days.
The NGT, while banning the manja last year, said the string, coated with glass and metal powder, poses a threat to the environment.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 pm on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
Closure of tanneries pulls down domestic finished leather exports and local price of raw-skin.
The tribunal also refused to give an urgent hearing on a fresh plea seeking stay on the three-day event on the banks of river Yamuna from Friday, alleging that AOL has not taken permissions from the competent authority as directed by the tribunal.
While Delhi boasts of one of the best metro systems in the world and decent infrastructure, reckless construction, legalising unauthorised colonies, and the worsening water and air quality dent its image of being a robust cosmopolitan city.
The PM2.5 level (presence in the air of particles with a diametre of less than 2.5 micrometres) touched a new high at 158 as authorities predicted further deterioration of air quality in the coming days.
Gas affected areas in Bhopal are still bereft of basic amenities.
