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Delhi Pollution: NGT Wants States To Come Up With Action Plan

The NGT wants to set up a committee with secretaries of five states.
Traffic drives through smog in Delhi.
Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Traffic drives through smog in Delhi.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) decided to set up a committee of secretaries of five states on Wednesday to ensure implementation of its anti-pollution orders.

While the pollution levels have since reduced, The Indian Express reports that the panel directed for different levels of pollution to be classified and action to be taken against officials who did not execute these orders.

According to a report in Mint, a bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar said that the secretaries of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have to take stock and review the pollution situation every two months.

This decision comes two days after the tribunal had pulled up the Centre and Delhi's AAP government over steps taken to reduce pollution.

Criticising the governments of these states, the tribunal, according to a report in The Indian Express, said, "Have any of the states ever thought of how to deal with the pollution? What kind of pollution do you anticipate? We are asking you whether any of your wise officers have ever sat together to classify different levels of pollution? It may be poor, bad, hazardous or an emergency. These are different levels of pollution. Have any of them applied their minds on this? It is shocking the way people of Delhi have been treated for the last seven days."

The panel had, earlier this week, passed a slew of measures to improve the ambient air quality in the national capital, including banning construction activities and operation of stone crushers and brick kilns for a week in Delhi and NCR.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.