Knotty pollution issues

In upholding the validity of the National Green Tribunal banning from New Delhi petrol and diesel vehicles more than 15 and 10 years old, respectively, the Supreme Court has validated an important principle of trying to save the environment from excessive damage through deadly pollutants emitted by burning fossil fuels in transporting goods, mostly with inefficient diesel engines. The ground realities of enforcing a ban linked to a sharp and artificial deadline like two weeks point to myriad problems of livelihood and finance to buy replacements. It is important that the NGT makes haste slowly in the matter of eliminating old cargo lorries through which about 85,000 trucks pass daily. There is no need to deviate from the outlook of the tribunal that the polluters must go to make the air of our cities breathable and less deleterious to health. The government, which first intended to challenge the tribunal’s order in the top court, might plead for a practical and well-phased out elimination of old polluting vehicles and their gradual replacement rather than the drastic steps recommended by the NGT. The process of educating the people on the harmful effects of operating polluting vehicles that carry the worst kind of particulate matter, which does the most damage to the lungs, etc., and encouraging them to replace lorries with tax breaks is bound to be long. The tribunal is going in the right direction, but it must also address the practical difficulties. Such laws must apply across India, otherwise inter-state transport could run into insurmountable difficulties.