NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has on Friday questioned the policies of the Delhi government for not taking positive steps to combat air pollution. The Tribunal alleged that both the central and state governments are responsible for what Delhi is giving to the future generation.

“The people of Delhi may not be important to you, but, for us they matter. We will do what all we can to restore normality in Delhi’s climate. Just look at what we are providing to our Children, it is terrible”, a National Green Tribunal bench headed by Chairperson Swatanter Kumar said.

The tribunal observed that neither the Central nor the State governments were worried about the deteriorating Delhi climate and its effects on the citizens, and that the authorities were only blaming each other instead of making a constructive progress to battle pollution.

Earlier, the Aam Aadmi government in Delhi said that chief powers to take any decision regarding climate are vested in the hands of the Central government, as it controls all the important civil cadres. However, the Central government retaliated that maintaining public safety is the responsibility of the State government.

On the other hand, the NGT said that a condition of emergency prevails in the capital city with schools and other institutions closed for three consecutive days due to bad weather. It has urged the Central government to take necessary steps to restore normality while accusing the state government of failing to implement its earlier orders on banning 10 years old diesel vehicles from plying on roads.

The NGT bench was infuriated when neither the Central government nor the State government was able to answer on the measures to be taken to control pollution in Delhi, despite a meeting held yesterday over Delhi’s climate with members of Central pollution control board and Ministry of the environment and forest present.

“We understand that there is a confusion between the functions of the civic bodies in Delhi. But, this should not affect the lives of ordinary citizens. What name are we giving to our national capital?. The Delhi government’s allegations on Haryana and Punjab farmer’s crop burning is not the only reason for air pollution, as we have observed that the air rarely moves in Winter. We expect that both the state and central governments will act on our orders as soon as possible”, the bench observed.

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