'Murder Of Young People': SC Orders States To Halt Farm Fires

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to immediately stop the burning of crop stubble that has pushed air quality in Delhi to hazardous levels, and made the heads of local police stations and chief secretaries of the four states responsible for this.

- Abraham Thomas

Delhi’s choked air is resulting in “complete murder of our young people”, said the court, which also directed the cabinet secretary to meet all stakeholders on Wednesday to devise an immediate cure to rising pollution levels in the capital. The matter will be heard next on Friday.

A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said, “We want this stopped altogether whether you take forceful action or give incentives against burning of stubble but you have to stop it. We are at zero level patience in these issues. This has to be sorted tomorrow so that it does not happen next year.”

The bench also took a dim view of Delhi’s so-called odd-even car scheme that was to go into effect from November 13, terming it “optics”, following which the Delhi government said it will make any further strategies or announcement only after it has studied the apex court’s directions.

To be sure, Punjab, responsible for the majority of stubble fires, has shown little interest in clamping down on them, with the chief minister’s own constituency, Sangrur, seeing the highest number of farm fires in the state. Farmers in Punjab, and also in Haryana, Rajasthan, and parts of Uttar Pradesh (although to a much lesser extent in the three states), burn stubble of their paddy crop after harvesting it so as to get their fields ready quickly for the next crop. Delhi’s air is always polluted, but at this time of the year as temperatures fall, making the air thicker and heavier, and winds slow, with their direction changing, the stubble fires push the air quality into dangerous territory.