Despite the possibility of a strong punitive action against the violators, burning of leaves and grass continues in many parts of the city causing environmental pollution and posing a health hazard.

It is sad that while young schoolchildren were holding an anti-pollution rally in Sector 7 today, barely a few yards away, men of the UT Administration were setting uprooted grass on fire by pouring diesel, oblivious to the harm caused to the environment.

And what is worst, the labour said that they were under instructions from their superiors in the PWD Department to perform this act for which the department officials also supplied the labourers with a can of diesel. Burning of grass and leaves all through the year is banned in the ‘City Beautiful’.

It was quite a contrasts for newsmen clicking young children to see that they were carrying placards educating the elderly about the abuse of the environment on the one hand and the adults causing pollution by defying the ban. Almost the entire stretch from Madhya Marg to the Golf Club was enveloped in smoke emitting highly toxic gases, besides reducing the visibility to almost nil. The prevailing fog-like conditions made the visibility even worse.

The grass that was being burnt today was earlier plucked from the cycle track on the road. One wonders what prompted the PWD officials to issue instructions to burn the grass when the department has so many vehicles to ferry grass and other foliage to the dumping areas. The fire from the grass has also damaged the newly planted trees in the vicinity of the burning grass.

The Municipal Commissioner was pulled up by a former Governor of Punjab, Justice O.P. Verma, for allowing the burning of leaves in the open. Following the former Governor’s instructions to take punitive action against those indulging on burning leaves and grass, the MC, in turn, had chargesheeted one of its Sanitation Department drivers for allegedly asking his sweeper colleagues to burn tree leaves, causing air pollution. The sweeper, too, was suspended for burning leaves in Sectors 8 and 9.

Burning of leaves and grass has had serious repercussions in and around the city by not only affecting the health of asthmatic patients, but also by causing a fire in Panchkula last year. Despite orders from various courts, including the apex court, to stop environmental pollution through the menace of burning leaves and grass, many officials continue to remain unaware of the environmental hazards involved in this and have been using this as a convenient way to dispose of foliage.

In Chandigarh, Dadu Majra is earmarked as a dumping site. But there, too, burning of leaves has caused smoke hazard for the residents of the area.