Right to Breathe: Delhiites Can Sue State & Central Governments

New Delhi: So, now that Delhiites are tired of screaming their lungs out complaining about the toxic air they breathe in, is it time to sue the governments of the day for denying a basic right?Also Read: Smog Crisis: Hundreds Protest as Delhi Turns Into Gas Chamber

Environmental crusader MC Mehta says it is well within the rights of a citizen to take the governments to court. As Delhi’s toxic air continues to oscillate between “severe” and “hazardous”, the time has come for citizens to exercise their constitutionally mandated guarantee of the Right to Life and take legal steps to clean it up, he told News18.

“Patients in Delhi hospitals suffering from various environment-related ailments should come out and file a petition in the Supreme Court claiming inhaling such polluted air violates their fundamental right to life as enshrined in our Constitution,” said Mehta, a legal-activist who has been moving the courts for decades on environmental issues.Also Read: Delhi Govt to Get Vacuum Cleaning Road Machines to Reduce Dust Particles

Mehta squarely blamed the governments of the day for Delhi’s pollution crisis. “The State and the Central governments are busy fanning their own petty interests and it is time that pollution financiers be held accountable,” he said.

Going by the ‘polluter pays’ principle, agencies providing loans for vehicles or governments which have no regard for the road-carrying capacity of Delhi must be fined by the courts. He cited Singapore as a model to emulate.

Delhi’s air has gone from bad to worse and beyond in the week after Diwali as a variety of factors – crop burning, Diwali crackers, construction dust and vehicular emissions – are blamed for raising the level of particulate matter to many times the WHO’s safe limit.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has rapped the Delhi government for failing to take steps to prevent the air quality from deteriorating even as citizens continue to give vent to their fury about the deleterious effects on health. In Pics: DELHI GRAPPLES WITH WORST AIR POLLUTION IN 17 YEARS

Mehta, founder of MC Mehta Environmental Foundation, also felt the question was no longer about the forum that one seeks to address such grievances, but the implantation of laws which are already in place.