Supreme court pulled up Punjab chief secretaries over poor air qualities in neighbourhood Delhi
New Delhi| On Wednesday Supreme Court tugged Punjab government and the state chief secretary for the unabated stubble burning leading to plummeting air quality in the national capital Delhi.
The court said, “It is a question of life and death for crores of people. They suffer from diseases such as asthma and cancer because of all this, We outright reject the suggestion of allowing stubble burning on certain conditions”.
The court said governments need to be sensitive to the plight of people suffering from pollution, adding that incentives and machinery should be provided to farmers to discourage stubble burning.
The courts said the government should be sensitive as crores of people are suffering, what’s the point of development as farmers still follow stubble burning. Machines and incentives should be provided to the farmers to stop stubble burning. “What’s the point of having all these developments if even stubble burning can’t be stopped,” the court said.
Also Read: Farmers in Punjab, Haryana defy ban on stubble burning
The Attorney General revert that it’s not possible to control 2,00,000 farmers who will continue violating the rules, to which the SC said it was time to make chief secretaries accountable. “Time has come to punish chief secretaries now. Punjab chief secretary must be hauled up. Why should only poor farmers be punished? We will punish people at the top,” it said.
“Why are you the chief secretary if you can’t protect people’s life? Let the central government rule the entire country if you say you can’t do anything and everything has to be done by the central government,” the court added.
Noting that people dying isn’t given as serious attention as cattle deaths, the court said punishing farmers is not the solution either. “Punishing farmers isn’t a solution. States will instead have law and order problems if you do this. Make them aware, sensitize them and give them incentives,” the court told the Punjab government.
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