Taking a serious note of the severe air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a slew of directions and asked the NHAI and the MCD to consider either temporary closing or relocating the nine toll plazas of the civic body at borders of the national capital to ease usual massive traffic congestion.The top court described the pollution crisis as an “annual feature” and called for pragmatic and practical solutions to tackle the menace and modified its own interim order of August 12 and permitted the authorities to take coercive action against older vehicles that do not meet Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) emission standards.
It, however, refused to interfere with Delhi government’s decision to stop physical classes for students of nursery to Class 5, holding that no further tinkering was required as the winter break was already approaching.
In an effort to ease vehicular congestion at Delhi’s borders, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to consider shifting or temporarily closing nine toll plazas located at entry points to the capital.
The MCD was specifically directed to take a decision within one week on whether these toll plazas could be shut temporarily to facilitate smoother traffic flow and reduce vehicular emissions.