New Delhi, October 4: Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin, all aged between six months and 14 months became the youngest petitioners before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, when they, in a PIL through their legal guardians, requested for adoption of stringent measures to bring down the deadly pollution level in Delhi.
Filed with the assistance of Advocate Pooja Dhar, the petition demands, among other things, total ban on the use of firecrackers, sparklers and explosives specially during the festivals of Dussehra and Diwali. The Supreme Court, their petition says, is bound under Article 32 to take interim steps in effectuating the people’s right to a clean, healthy and pollution-free environment under Article 21.
The PIL has also sought a stay on the grant of firework licenses by the Delhi Police Licensing Unit.
Reports stating facts that children are more susceptible to lung diseases, asthma, bronchitis, retarded nervous system development and cognitive impairment have also been included in the petition.
A study, which was released in February 2015, said the life of 660 million Indians, about half of the country’s total population, is being cut short by around three years due to severely polluted air.
In 2014, the WHO conducted a study concerning 1600 cities across 91 countries whereby New Delhi was ranked the worst city in the world in terms of ambient air quality calculated in terms of quantity of particulate matter in air. The petition refers to the report which mentions that the Delhi air, apart from having two of the most toxic pollutants viz., PM 10 and PM 2.5 in high levels, has the worst type of suspended particulate matter (PM 1) in enormous amounts and that these are the primary source of cardiovascular diseases since they can easily penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the blood stream.
In an ironic disclosure, the petition reveals that successive Delhi Governments in the past seven years have collected close to Rs 385 crores for pollution control through a 0.25 paise environment cess, yet 87 percent of those funds still remain unutilized. It also cites a joint study report by the Central Pollution Control Board and the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute which focused on the role of air pollution in causing cancer in children.
The petition demands action by the Union Government, the Central Pollution Control Board, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Delhi Police Licensing Unit and also requests for a ban on burning of seasonal crops, strict steps against those who dump dust, malba and other pollutants without following rules and immediate introduction of Bharat-V or better emission norms into operation, uniformly across the country.
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