Supreme Court expresses concern over Delhi's air pollution

01 Nov 2023 CW Team

The Supreme Court, observing the persistent air pollution in the national capital despite the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) taking several remedial steps, directed the governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan to provide details about the measures they have initiated to control it. The court noted that a couple of decades ago, this was the best time in Delhi, but now the city's air quality has worsened to the point where it is difficult to even go outside.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice SK Kaul instructed the five states to submit affidavits within a week. Justice Kaul stated, "The concerned states should file an affidavit outlining the steps they have taken to improve the situation. We urge the states of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan to submit an affidavit within a week." The bench, which also included Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and P K Mishra, scheduled the further hearing for November 7.

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..