Pollution damages query Angry Supreme Court sends notices to all states

R. Balaji, TT, 26.11.19, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday suggested that the authorities bring “explosives” to Delhi for killing people “in one go” instead of allowing them to die gradually because of air pollution.

The court issued notices to the Centre, all states and Union Territories on why they should not pay compensation to the people for failing to provide clean water and air.

“The entire world is laughing at us today. You all are reducing the lifespan of people. Why are people being forced to live in gas chambers in Delhi? It is better to kill them all in one go. Get explosives in… bags at one go and kill them. Why should people suffer all this?” Justice Arun Mishra told solicitor-general Tushar Mehta who appeared for the Centre.

Justice Mishra is heading a bench that also has Justice Deepak Gupta.

The bench was peeved that despite its repeated directives to curb stubble-burning in the neighbouring states, Delhi continued to face rising pollution levels.

The bench granted six weeks to the Centre, states and Union Territories for replying to a question on compensating people for the problems of pollution.

The bench issued notices to the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh through the counsel representing them on why they should also not be made liable for continuing to burn stubble.

The bench rapped the Centre and the chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for the worsening pollution in the national capital.

“Life is not supposed to be so cheap. Even the compensation that was given to victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy is much less than what they get in other countries,” the bench observed.

The chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were present in the court to explain the various measures taken to curb pollution in the national capital.

The bench pulled up the Punjab chief secretary, saying that the state would be compelled to compensate to the people of Delhi and the amount would be recovered from the officers responsible for failing to prevent the stubble-burning.

“'Mr chief secretary, we will hold each and every machinery in the state responsible for the situation. You can’t allow people to die like this. Delhi is near suffocating. Because you aren’t able to implement measures, it doesn’t mean people in the Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) should die and suffer from cancer,” Justice Mishra observed.

The official explained that the stubble-burning continued to take place despite the best efforts to curb the menace. He explained that pamphlets prohibiting stubbing-burning were being distributed and farmers were being offered Rs 100 per quintal to prevent the stubble-burning.

However, the bench was not satisfied with the answer and warned that it would impose “heavy penalties” on the officers responsible for inaction.

The court noted that satellite images indicated that in Haryana, too, stubble-burning continued to take place.