“Can we survive in this atmosphere? No one is safe even inside homes,” The Supreme court said on Delhi Pollution.
NEW DELHI| On Monday When Delhi was enveloped under toxic smog Supreme Court took on state governments saying that People are losing precious years of their lives due to severe air pollution. The Supreme court pulled up the centre and the Delhi government, saying “There is passing of the buck” and that it “can’t happen in a civilised country”.
The Supreme Court held up the report by the Environment Pollution Control Authority on the pollution caused by stubble burning. The pollution control body has asked the Delhi state should stop burning of waste, toxic emissions from Industries and Dust from construction sites.
“Can we survive in this atmosphere? This is not the way we can survive. No one is safe even inside homes, it is atrocious,” a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said.
Also Read: Air pollution reduces average Indian’s life by 1.5 years: Research
Holding the point of crop burning in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court asked the centre to call environment experts, including people from IIT in 30 minutes in court. “Things are happening every year under our nose. People are being advised to not come to Delhi or to leave Delhi. State governments are responsible. People are dying in their states and neighbouring states. We will not tolerate this. We are making a mockery of everything,” the court said.
“Delhi is choking every year and we are not able to do anything. Question is that every year this is happening,” the judges said, adding, “People are dying and it can’t happen in a civilised country”.
In its report, which was considered by the top court, the EPCA has said that though Delhi has been able to improve annual air pollution load on the city from 2010 till now, the “city still needs to reduce pollution levels by 65 per cent to meet the national air quality standards”.
Senior advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae, said that as per the centre’s affidavit, crop burning has gone up by 7 per cent in Punjab and gone down by 17 per cent in Haryana.
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