Asks Centre to call emergency meet, curb 75% pollution caused by industry, dust and transport
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Centre to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday with other stakeholders and come out with concrete proposals to tackle the menace of air pollution. The SC issued this directive after the Centre submitted an affidavit and said that 75 per cent of the air pollution is due to three factors: Industry, dust and transport.
The top court came down hard on the authorities after the Centre’s submission that stubble burning contributes only 10 per cent to air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Pointing to construction, industry, transport, power and vehicular traffic as the major culprits in causing pollution, the apex court asked the Centre to take measures like stopping non-essential activities and implementing work from home.
“Even though some decisions were taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas Act it has not indicated precisely what steps they are going to take to control factors that are causing air pollution,” a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said.
“In view of that, we direct the Government of India to call for an emergency meeting tomorrow and discuss the areas which we indicated and what orders they can pass to effectively control air pollution. So far, as stubble burning is concerned, broadly affidavits state that their contribution is not so much except for two months.