Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
A committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to look into air pollution around the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi proposed some long-term measures to address the crisis on July 1, 2023. The report was submitted in response to an order dated March 17.
Air pollution around AIIMS has been jeopardising the health of patients, doctors and other staff there.
Creating a green belt surrounding the campus, reserving parking places for private ambulances, removing encroachments within a 500-metre radius of AIIMS and street landscaping along MG Road and Aurobindo Marg can help address the situation, according to the committee.
The hospital should consider banning all petrol and diesel vehicles within the campus soon, except for emergency and patient transportation, to ensure traffic management.
A dedicated ambulance corridor from South Extension to Yusuf Sarai can ensure faster access to emergency vehicles, the committee said. AIIMS was planning to procure 200 electric vehicles to transport staff and patients, it noted.
NDMC should select the AIIMS stretch to be part of the smart street-scaping project to address the traffic congestion on MG Road and Aurobindo Marg.
Food trucks and food distribution events organised by community service groups on the footpath of Sri Aurobindo Marg along the western boundary wall of AIIMS lead vehicles to stop and create congestion, the committee noted. It also leads to obstruction of pedestrian movement.
Extensive illegal on-street parking was seen on most roads within a 500-metre buffer. These are unregulated and often haphazard.
While four-wheelers were found in most of these parking sites, light commercial vehicles were observed in the residential areas of Gautam Nagar, Masjid Moth and South Extension, it noted.
The presence of informal shops and mobile vendors was observed in most residential areas, particularly in Gautam Nagar, Yusuf Sarai and Masjid Moth. Even formal shops have encroached on the roads by keeping their goods outside.
The committee carried out a GIS-based hotspot analysis and observed that south and southeast of the AIIMS Campus have major concentrations of activities, parking and encroachment, which need to be addressed urgently.
The Kerala High Court (HC) ordered Lakshadweep on June 27 to appoint veterinary doctors immediately to attend to the health of animals and birds in the Union Territory.
The secretary of the Department of Fisheries, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of Lakshadweep will have to appear in person before the High Court in case of violation of the HC order.
Veterinary doctors should be appointed within three weeks, either by contract or permanently, ordered a bench of judges comprising of A Muhamed Mustaque and Sophy Thomas.
The HC had passed an order on March 30, 2023, for making interim arrangements for veterinary surgeons to be made available. Despite the order, no steps have been taken by the Lakshadweep administration, the counsel for the petitioner pointed out.
In the 15 unauthorised colonies in Sabhapur, Delhi, no land is available to collect municipal solid waste and construct a fixed compactor transfer station, material recovery facility, public toilets and paryavaran sarvekshan shelters, according to a report by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The streets of all the colonies are katcha and no drains have been constructed, noted the MCD report submitted to the NGT on June 28.
The sanitation department is carrying out the cleaning and lifting of garbage in these areas on a daily basis.
In these densely populated colonies, garbage is collected in the dustbins and garbage boats. Some 17 unlicensed meat shops have been sealed and encroachments were cleared, said the report.
An open drain near a colony in Vasant Kunj, Delhi, has been cleared of construction debris and garbage, said a report by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
DDA had floated a tender for constructing a wall behind a society in Vasant Kunj to prevent the seepage of dirty water into the society. Further, the construction of a drain to prevent the stagnation of sewage water has also been contemplated.
DDA has already completed water-proofing and strengthening of the boundary wall of the society that runs along the drain in compliance with Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) directions.
The drain was cleaned in 2022 under DPCC’s directions. DDA said it had issued a fresh tender for further routine cleaning of the waterlogged area.
A ditch created behind a society in Vasant Kunj to resolve the issue of waterlogging during the rainy season was in an unhygienic condition due to the unauthorised discharge of sewer / drain water from a drain in Mahipalpur village.
Based on a complaint, the NGT, on March 3, 2023, directed DDA to file a detailed compliance report mentioning the action plan devised to resolve issues.
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