‘Not much has changed as Capital continues to face pollution woes’

NGT pulls up Delhi govt over ‘unsatisfactory’ progress in curbing pollution

A tourist wearing an anti-pollution mask in the Capital.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday pulled up the Delhi government over “unsatisfactory” progress in terms of curbing pollution in the national capital.

Noting that “not much has changed” over the years and that the Capital continues to face pollution woes, a Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “People are dying because of pollution, there is no proper policy…we have not yet come across any good officer or counsel for the Delhi government who understands the [environmental] cause.”

“The situation of environment is highly unsatisfactory. Delhi is the Capital and in most of the cases there is no compliance [of orders and relevant rules]…we are extremely dissatisfied with Delhi,” the Bench observed.

The observations came when Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev was appearing before the green panel to apprise the tribunal of the steps taken to curb pollution.

‘Diffused responsibility’

During the hearing, Mr. Dev informed the Bench that “individual accountability” of officers had been fixed to avoid issues resulting from a sense of “diffused responsibility”.

“We will ensure that diffused responsibility is done away with…we will order prosecution if needed…fear of law will be put into officers,” said Mr. Dev.

Further, the Bench asked the officer to consider identifying certain areas across the Capital where compliance of rules be done first so that they can be treated as “model areas” which can be replicated to other parts of the Capital.

The Bench also raised issues ranging from illegal banquet halls in Delhi, plastic units, pollution resulting from industries operating in residential areas and the lack of proper sewage network especially with respect to the unauthorised colonies.

The NGT further asked the State government to provide timelines pertaining to handling of the legacy waste.

Earlier, the tribunal had come down heavily on authorities for failing to implement the solid waste management rules. All Chief Secretaries have been asked to appear before the tribunal with proper action plans.