NEW DELHI: Tearing into the political class for its inaction in dealing with pollution in Delhi, the Supreme Court on Monday summoned chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana to explain why they had failed to curb stubble burning, whose fumes have made the Capital a gas chamber.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said, “Stubble burning must stop immediately. Both the Centre and the state must do this. People are dying. The sad thing is everyone in this country is interested in all sorts of gimmicks. This is worst than Emergency now. That Emergency was better than this emergency.”
The observation came while hearing a petition from the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) on stubble burning in states like Punjab and Haryana. The chief secretaries will appear before the bench on Wednesday.
“Delhi is choking while the Delhi government and Centre are simply passing the buck. People aren’t safe even inside their houses. This can’t happen in a civilised country. The time has come to fix responsibility for the situation that is destroying the Right to Life of citizens in gross violation of Article 21. Everybody is answerable - from the state to the gram panchayats. Life span of people is being reduced in the Capital.”
Holding the governments responsible for the Delhi’s pollution, the bench said, “They are interested in electioneering only and they are answerable. We will not tolerate this.”
The bench ordered that all officers right from chief secretary to the gram sarpanch will be held accountable for even a single incident of stubble burning. They will be prosecuted for contempt of court, it warned.
The Delhi government was also ordered to submit data on its odd-even vehicle scheme by Friday.
“What will you achieve? You are stopping private cars, but autos and taxis can ply... they will ply more now and pollute equally,” the court said.
The bench puts a halt on all construction and development work in the Delhi/NCR area and directed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on violations.
IIT Delhi Prof Mukesh Khare, who appeared before the court, said, “We need to address four major factors stubble burning, spraying water to suppress dust, stop burning of waste and addressing dust from unpaved roads.”