Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai slammed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s (DPCC) Chairman Ashwani Kumar on closure of Smog Tower, calling it contempt of the Supreme Court. The Environment Minister directed the Principal Secretary (Environment & Forest & Wildlife) to release the salaries of workers within 24 hours, making Smong Towers at Connaught Place operational. Issues pertaining to non-payment of salaries of workers stationed at Smong towers, Minister Shri Gopal has expressed his strong displeasure, in a written communication addressed to the Principal Secretary (E&F). Minister Shri Gopal Rai issued strict directions to ensure that all payments are made on time in the near future, causing no interruptions. He directed the DPCC Chairman to submit a detailed report within 48 hours (i.e. latest by 10.01.2024) addressing important aspects related to this shocking dereliction of duties by the DPCC.
Issuing directions to the Principal Secretary (E&F), Delhi’s Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai stated, “This is a very serious matter and immediate steps will be taken to release the pending payment and other related issues, if any, as per the MOU, within 24 hours so that to make Smog Tower operational without any further delay. Further, it must also be ensured in future that all payments be made in a timely manner strictly as per the MOU, to keep the Smog Tower running without any interruption.”
The Environment Minister directed that the DPCC Chairman submit a detailed report to the Environment Minister within 48 hours (i.e. latest by 10.01.2024) addressing the following important aspects related to this shocking dereliction of duties by DPCC:
a) Details of payments released by DPCC to project partners i.e. (NBCC and TATA projects) subsequent to directions of the Supreme Court in November 2023
b) Details of payments that are due to project partners as of 31.12.2023 and payments that have been released by the DPCC against the same
c) Details of the first instance that the DPCC Chairman first became aware of the issue of non-payment of salaries to workers at CP Smog Tower and what the actions taken by the DPCC Chairman since then (include copies of directions on file/letters issued in this regard)
d) The DPCC Chairman to further investigate to identify the officers responsible for causing a delay in the release of payment for the project as per MOU terms and recommend disciplinary action to be initiated against them.
“Given the gravity and urgency of the matter, a detailed report addressing the points raised above be submitted to the undersigned within 48 hours i.e. latest by 10.01.2024,” he added.
Minister Shri Gopal Rai mentioned, “It has come to my notice through various newspapers that work on Smog Tower has again been stopped by the workers due to non-payment of salaries for the last two months. This is a shocking dereliction of duties by DPCC that was directed by the Supreme Court as recently as November 2023 to ensure the continued operation of the Smog Tower. It therefore tantamounts to a direct contempt of court by actions of the DPCC, a second such instance within 6 months. It is also very concerning that the shutting down of the Smog Tower is taking place at a time when Air pollution is still in the ‘Very Poor’ category in NCT of Delhi.”
The Delhi Environment Minister further writes that the operation of the Smog Tower was earlier arbitrarily stopped by the DPCC Chairman in August 2023 by stopping the release of O&M funds for the second year. The said action was taken suo-moto by the DPCC Chairman in contravention of the decision of the Council of Ministers, GNCTD. The actions of the DPCC Chairman also made the GNCTD liable to be charged with contempt of the Supreme Court, as was pointed out in the note of the Environment Minister to the Chief Minister. Eventually, the Smog Tower was restarted after the intervention of the Supreme Court in November 2023.
Smog Tower at Connaught Place, Delhi was installed by DPCC on the directions of the Supreme Court in the matter titled M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India in 2020 and started operations in August 2021. It was conceived as a scientific R&D project, among an array of solutions, to help address the seasonal pollution problem in Delhi. For smooth operations of the project, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was entered between DPCC, NBCC and TATA Projects.
