The Supreme Court stated that the situation must be regularly watched because farmers are burning their crops after 1:30 pm when NASA satellites fly over the subcontinent. This resulted in a serious under-count of crop-burning data, particularly in Punjab, with the Centre of Air Quality Management (CAQM) reporting a 70% fall in the number of stubble-burning incidents.
The court opined that the farmers in the state of Punjab were being asked by the state authorities to burn the stubble after specific hours to evade the satellite’s attention.
The Apex court noted that officials cannot permit farmers to burn stubble, and instructed the Punjab government to issue immediate instructions to prevent such practices. The court also stated that the situation was very serious, affecting the lives of the people due to pollution.
During the hearing, Advocate Manali Singhal, representing the petitioner, informed a bench led by Justice Abhay Oka that several media houses had conducted a sting operation to expose the stubble-burning epidemic in Delhi’s neighboring states.
Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh stated that officials had admitted that the state had directed the farmers to burn stubble after 4 pm. The Supreme Court ruled that the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) IV measures in the national capital would remain in effect and that the limits would be reviewed on Monday, December 2nd.
“We expect the states to make a statement before us on what action they propose to take regarding breaches specifically pointed out by the court commissioners,” the top court observed.
The Supreme Court Bench further directed the Delhi government to take action against errant officials as identified in the court commissioners’ report. The court further chastised CAQM for issuing a clarification about GRAP restrictions, stating that it could cause confusion, and ordering the commission to delete it.
“They are saying other activities permitted under GRAP Stage 3 will be permitted. How can you say this? This would be overreaching orders of the court. If you issue such directions, everyone on the ground will be misled. This should be withdrawn as it may create confusion. What was the necessity of publishing this?” the court asked.
Last week it was reported that the data showing the decline in stubble burning in Punjab was misleading and that the farmers there were fooling the satellites used to monitor fire incidents. The exclusive report by NDTV then revealed that the farmers were devising strategies to avoid satellite surveillance. Experts believed that alterations in the timing of stubble burning were a planned attempt by farmers to avoid detection.
This came a day after the reports emerged claiming that the number of farm fires in Punjab had dropped dramatically, from roughly 79,000 in 2021 to approximately 32,000 in 2023. Meanwhile, the air quality in Delhi has deteriorated and stubble burning in states like Punjab and Haryana is the main cause of it though the leftist cabal and Delhi’s AAP government blame Hindu festivals for it. They blame the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali. However, it has been widely agreed that stubble-burning incidents from Punjab have contributed the most to the poor air quality of Delhi.
In the given case, the Supreme Court has ordered 24×7 information regarding stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. The court has also noted that officials cannot permit farmers to burn stubble and instructed the Punjab government to issue immediate instructions to prevent such practices.
