Supreme Court warns Centre over pollution in Delhi

New Delhi : The air pollution in Delhi and areas near it has become a topic of research and "ad-hoc measures" won't help, the Supreme Court said today. "Even if the pollution level goes down now, we will continue to hear this case and issue directions," the court stressed in a stern warning.

Issuing the warning, the court told Centre that the issue of farm fires cannot be "micromanaged" and the government should decide on fines.

It has been three weeks since the national capital and adjoining areas have been breathing toxic air.

"This is the national capital. Look at the signal we are sending to the world. You have to predict the situation based on statistics... and take action in anticipation so that the situation does not go severe," the court highlighted.

"Now there are supercomputers... there needs to be a statistical model," the government was told.

On Wednesday morning, the AQI of Delhi was under "very poor" category. The court mentioned that acceptable AQI limits must be defined for the national capital.

In the last hearing, the top court had highlighted how this has become an annual problem.

Lawyer Vikas Singh, representing the petitioner, said, "The issue of stubble burning needs to be taken care of. If farmers are compensated, farm fires can be controlled."