In a critical hearing on Delhi air pollution menace, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, Rajasthan governments to implement a full firecracker ban by January 1, 2025.
The top court passed this order after the Delhi Government informed the bench that it had issued a notification imposing a complete ban on firecrackers in the National Capital Territory (NCT) for the entire year, which includes a ban on the sale, storage, and trade of firecrackers.
The top court bench led by Justice AS Oka also addressed the issue of compensation for workers affected by the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP-4) measures currently imposed in the NCR to combat air pollution.
The Court expressed dissatisfaction over non-compensation of the workers impacted by the construction ban during the GRAP-4 measures.
The Court instructed all NCR states to identify which all workers were affected by these measures and ensure they are compensated.
The apex court also warned the NCR states that failure to compensate these workers could lead to contempt proceedings and asked to submit an affidavit by 5, 2025 on this matter.
The Court has scheduled the next hearing for January 15.
(By Sambhav Sharma)
