India Tomorrow
New Delhi, November 13—The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central government to review the technology from Japan to tackling the issue of air pollution in India, particularly Delhi and the National Capital Region(NCR).
The apex court issued the directions on the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the Central government is exploring various technologies, including hydrogen-based technology from Japan, to tackle the issue.
The directions were issued by a bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S A Bobde, reports Bar and Bench.
The Court directed the Centre to review the technology and submit a report about its outcome on December 3.
The Court was hearing a suo motu case registered by the Supreme Court after air quality level in Delhi and surrounding States plummetted.
Last week, the Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta pulled up the Centre and the Delhi Government on the air pollution choking the national capital.
The air quality index in Delhi and other parts of Northern India has crossed hazardous and toxic levels, the Court had noted. It further observed that “no room in Delhi is safe”. Despite installing air purifiers, the PM 2.5 levels were at 500 and 600, indicating a grim situation.
The Bench said.”The right to life is the most important. We can’t live like this, cannot survive in this atmosphere. We are losing precious years of our life.”
The Bench went on to pass a number of directions to tackle the issue of stubble burning, the major cause of the air pollution plaguing Delhi NCR and other regions in North India.
Among these was a direction to the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi to process the stubble and bear the costs of the same.
The Court will take up this matter for hearing next on November 15. The states were given a time of seven days to comply with the directions regarding hiring of machinery for stubble processing.
