Pollution is capital punishment for Delhiites: HC

The Hindu , Saturday, November 12, 2016
Correspondent : AKANKSHA JAIN
Punjab says crop burning in its areas does not affect air quality in the Capital; court accuses State of being in denial

Calling air pollution “capital punishment killing Delhiites for no fault”, the Delhi High Court on Thursday said that 20 million people were losing 60 million years of life each year.

A Bench of Justices B D Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar said that the World Health Organisation had declared air pollution as the world’s single largest health risk, attributing seven million deaths to it globally.

“As long as PM2.5 is in excess of the prescribed standard, life expectancy would be 3.2 years less than what it ought to be. Assuming that the population of Delhi is 20 million, it would mean that approximately 60 million life years are robbed from the people of Delhi. It also means air pollution takes one million lives in Delhi,” said the Bench.

Noting that “danger to life visible from extensive newspaper reporting had not led to the government acting in a manner it should have”, the Bench said 13 of the 20 cities in the world with the worst air were in India.

Senior advocate Kailash Vasudevan, meanwhile, highlighted that the action plan submitted by the State and central agencies did not reveal much.

Further, the Bench was disquieted by Punjab’s “denial mode” as it looked at a screen that flashed images of stubble burning in the State and the smoke travelling towards Delhi and even as far as Madhya Pradesh. The State of Punjab responded saying there was no proof that crop burning within its area affected the air quality in Delhi, and that it was not fair to expect its farmers to invest in crop residue management techniques as they were a distressed lot after having suffered the Partition, two Indo-Pak wars, and low returns.

“It has not been conclusively proved that alleged stubble burning in Punjab affects air quality in Delhi. For the alleged stubble burning in Punjab to affect air quality in Delhi, factors like wind direction and wind speed matter a lot. No conclusive study seems to have been undertaken in this regard,” said the State in an affidavit.

Stressing on low minimum support price and heavy debt causing distress to its farmers, Punjab said “its farming community has already suffered the burnt of partition in 1947 and subsequent wars of 1965 and 1971...it will not be fair to expect the already distressed farmers of the state to invest in crop residue management equipment especially when the time gap between harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat is only about two weeks.”

‘Dereliction of duty’

“What is distressing is that we warned you. This is dereliction of duty,” the Bench told the Delhi government as well as the counsel for the State of Punjab, who said the State would need 100 per cent grant-in-aid from the Centre for crop residue management, while listing the efforts it had put in to check crop burning.

Visibly disturbed byPunjab blaming the pollution on firecrackers, the Bench said, “Your affidavit is in denial mode. Delhi has had to cancel schools, etc. Look at the loss. The satellite images clearly show that crop burning in Punjab is the main culprit.”

The Bench, however, appreciated the efforts made by Haryana and Rajasthan to check stubble burning and said “they were moving in the right direction”.

“Unfortunately, Punjab has not taken any steps despite our warning. Before we issue any contempt notice to its Chief Secretary, we would like a detailed affidavit as to why no steps were taken,” the Bench said, fixing the matter for hearing on November 18.

Waste segregation at source

The Bench also heard the issue of overflowing landfill sites, which it said had simmering fires and were releasing toxic gases.

When the Delhi government’s counsel Rahul Mehra said that the Capital produces 10,000 metric tonnes of waste every day, the Bench noted that about four million metric tonnes of waste was being dumped in Delhi annually at just three sites — Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla.

The Bench then asked the civic agencies to ensure waste segregation at source. Mr. Mehra also told the Bench that the Delhi government was mulling converting the now-defunct Rajghat thermal power plant to a waste-to-energy plant, and needed 20 acres of land near Bawana that is with the NTPC.

“We think this ought to be taken up expeditiously,” said Justice Ahmed after the counsel said it would take 18 months to complete the project.

 
SOURCE : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/pollution-is-capital-punishment-for-delhiites-hc/article9336195.ece
 


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