Source – <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0Supreme Court\u00a0of India on Monday, speaking about the\u00a0air pollution\u00a0levels in Delhi and NCR, criticised the authorities and said people were losing their precious lives because of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan we survive in this atmosphere? This is not the way we can survive. No one is safe even inside homes; it is atrocious,\u201d\u00a0NDTV<\/em>\u00a0quoted\u00a0Justice Arun Mishra as saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reports said that Justices Mishra and Deepak Gupta said this was not the way people should have to live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PTI<\/em> reported the court as saying, \u201cDelhi is choking every year and we are not able to do anything. Question is that every year this is happening. It cannot be done in a civilised country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report said the court asked the Centre to call environmental experts and said such inaction from authorities could not be tolerated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court noted that every year the governments cried hoarse about crop burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh but did nothing about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy is there unabated crop burning every year? Every year there is hue and cry. States know this but still they are not tackling this issue,\u201d the court asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The court also criticised the state governments saying they were only interested in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are only interested in electioneering. They have no responsibility towards their own people\u2026 Everybody is interested in gimmicks and elections,\u201d\u00a0Hindustan Times<\/em>\u00a0quoted\u00a0the bench as saying. This was, according to the report, after Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority chairperson Bhure Lal told the court that the chief secretaries of the states were personally responsible for being unable to stop stubble burning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to PTI<\/em> senior advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the Supreme Court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, told the court that an affidavit by the Centre said that crop burning had gone up by 7% in Punjab and was down by 17% in Haryana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the bench said, \u201cYou are asking people to die. Your states (Punjab and Haryana) are also badly affected. Is this the administration left in Punjab and Haryana? Every year this is happening. We will fasten the liability of states and panchayats also.\u201d <\/p>\n