NGT chief equates polluting with murder and rape

The chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT) Adarsh Kumar Goel on Wednesday while addressing a workshop on 'Beat Air Pollution' here on occasion of World Environment Day said there should be zero tolerance for people who are polluting the environment as “pollution is no less offence than murder or rape.”

“There will have to be zero tolerance if air quality deteriorates beyond a point. Air pollution control act has vast powers. Do anything to stop it and if somebody goes beyond the norms then don’t tolerate it, put him behind the bars, punish him. Because once the environment is damaged you can’t restore it. And pollution is no less offence than murder or rape. So, let us be aware about it,” he said.

Addressing the workshop in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at Gujarat University's convention hall, the tribunal’s chief said, "90% of people are breathing polluted air. Six lakh people are dying every year in India and 50,000 are dying in Gujarat due to diseases related to air pollution."

He said that air, water and soil are under serious threat world over. He opined the world is taking the environmental issues very seriously but India is still lagging behind. “I am sorry to tell you that no state in the country is compliant with the rules and regulations of waste management. No shortage of funds can be a ground, he said. The NGT chief pointed out garbage dumping yards mounting in various cities including Ahmedabad.

He also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Clean India” mission to say that “If there is no clean India, there is no healthy India and no prosperous India… it is a necessity to end the causes of air pollution.”

On the occasion, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that Gujarat is committed to saving the environment and various efforts have been taken. He said that the government is targeting planting of 10 crore trees in the coming days. He claimed that Gujarat, among the developing states, has been able to increase the forest cover in the recent past.

Rupani mentioned that many chemical industries in China are preparing to shift their business to Gujarat which has been attracting huge foreign investment. Therefore, he said, the state needs to come up with plans to check environmental challenges.