New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said the Centre and States should consider work-from-home for their employees in and around Delhi and farmers should be persuaded to not burn farm waste to cut down pollution.
Taking up the capital’s air quality crisis, the apex court also directed the Centre to call an emergency meeting of States and other authorities on Tuesday to chalk out immediate steps to reduce the toxic smog and said it would hear the matter again the next day.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana, urged the governments to persuade the farmers to stop stubble burning for the next two weeks as air pollution reached a level in the region which is considered hazardous to the health of citizens in the past few days.
‘So far, as stubble burning is concerned, broadly affidavits state that their contribution is not so much except for two months. However, at present a good amount of stubble burning is taking place in Haryana and Punjab,’ the bench, also comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant, said.
In an affidavit filed before the hearing, the Delhi government told the court that it was ready to take steps like a complete lockdown to fight air pollution though it will have a limited effect. Similar restrictions will be needed for the neighbouring areas of Delhi too, which come under the National Capital Region (NCR), it said.