Health schemes will go haywire if pollution isn’t curbed, says Supreme Court
HIGHLIGHTS
• “All your healthcare programme would go haywire if pollution is not controlled. People will keep falling sick because of pollution,” the SC bench said.
• The bench said that a concerted effort from all concerned authorities was required to curb the menace.
Days after the Centre announced an ambitious healthcare scheme to provide up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation, the Supreme Court on Monday reminded the government that such programme would not be effective till pollution crisis is effectively tackled first.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said that 13 out of 20 most polluted cities of the world were from India and pollution had become the "most critical problem".
It said that a concerted effort from all concerned authorities was required to curb the menace which was not affecting the present generation but the coming generations would also have to pay the price. "All your healthcare programme would go haywire if pollution is not controlled. People will keep falling sick because of pollution," the bench said.
Advocate Aprajita Singh, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, told the bench that citizens' fundamental right to breathe fresh air could not be compromised at any costs. She said that the governemnt needed to take a holistic approach towards the problem.
"Today we are in a very critical state. Pollution is not confined to National Capital Region. It is across the country and situation is getting worse with each passing year. People are gasping and the government cannot take life of citizens lightly. The government is still at planning stage and it will take a long time to implement it," she contended while referring to the findings of various studies done on impact of pollution.
As per the Global Burden of Disease estimates for 2017, early deaths related to PM 2.5 in India are the second highest in the world and ozone-related deaths, though lower than PM2.5, are the highest in the world.
An epidemiological study done by Central Pollution Control Board and Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute of Kolkata showed that every third child has reduced lung function. The report said that sputum of children contains four times more iron-laden macrophages than those from cleaner environs, indicating pulmonary hemorrhage.
As per the Greenpeace report, as many as 12 lakh deaths take place every year due to air pollution in India and says that the number of deaths caused by air pollution is only a "fraction less" than the number of deaths caused by tobacco usage. The report says that 3% of the GDP is lost due to air pollution.
Additional solicitor general A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the government was aware of the problem and curbing pollution was one of the top priorities of ministry of environment and forest ministry. The bench said that the problem was too broad to be handled by one ministry. (Source: The Times of India).
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