The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday told the State government that it can reduce sound and air pollution to a large extent in commercial areas by ensuring round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply.
“The use of diesel generator sets in commercial areas can cause two or three times more pollution than by other means. All you [government] have to do is to ensure uninterrupted power supply, which will eliminate use of generator sets,” said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri.
When the government submitted that the State faced power problems every summer, the Bench said that lack of planning resulted in such a situation, while pointing out that round-the-clock power supply was possible with proper planning. The Bench was hearing PIL petitions initiated suo motu by the court based on newspaper reports on noise and sound pollution in the city. The Bench directed the State to submit details of the number of patients treated at government hospitals in the city for respiratory diseases and cancer in the last three years.
