Terming pet coke and furnace oil used by various industries as the single biggest source of pollution in Delhi and NCR, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to take a decision within four weeks on banning polluting fuels like furnace oil and pet coke used in industrial plants.
It wants natural gas and electricity to be used as an alternative.
The order from the bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur came on the recommendation by expert body Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority (EPCA).
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• Giving the order, the bench cited 3,000 premature deaths in Delhi every year due to air pollution. It also referred to a CPCB study of 2008 which said one-third of Delhi's children has lung problems.
• Although the DPCC had declared them as "unacceptable fuel" way back in 1996, but they are not banned outside Delhi borders and are being increasingly used by industries in the NCR, aggravating the pollution problem.
• Emphasising that quality of fuel plays a critical role in quantum of pollution generated, EPCA and the CSE had earlier informed the SC that sulphur level in furnace oil and pet coke is multiple times higher as compared to other fuel. "The key contaminant in fuel, responsible for high levels of pollution, is sulphur. It is for this reason India has moved from petrol/diesel with 10,000 ppm of sulphur in 1996 to 50 ppm in 2010 (to be extended nationwide in April 2017)," said its report filed in SC.
• Pleading for a blanket ban on polluting fuels, it said furnace oil being the last grade produced by refineries is extremely polluting and pet coke is even more polluting. EPCA said its probe had revealed that large quantities of furnace oil are being sold in Delhi and NCR by oil companies.
