On pollution bureaucrats have adopted a ‘don’t take any steps attitude says SC

New Delhi, Nov 17: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that its prime focus is on reducing pollution. If you see today's newspapers each have its own statistics.

Debates on TV are causing more pollution than any other sources. Everyone has their own agenda there. We are trying to work out a solution here, Chief Justice of India N V Ramanna said.

Each ones giving different figures. We do not want to penalise the farmers. We already asked the Centre to pursue and request those farmers to not burn stubble at least for a week. Every year in October and November Supreme Court is compelled to take steps when Delhi starts choking, the Bench also said.

You banned firecrackers. But can you deny that in last 5-6 days so many firecrackers have been burst. What about those sources of pollution? A research paper by IIT says that only certain percentage contributes to stubble burning pollution, the court observed.

Irrespective of figures in affidavits the plight of the farmers, what compels him to burn stubble. Nobody is concerned about that. People sleeping in five star hotels in Delhi blame farmers. Look at such small land holdings of farmers. Can they afford the machines you all talk about, the court asked.

It is unfortunate that the bureaucracy has come to this pass. The court while coming down heavily on the bureaucracy also said that it has taken a don't take any step attitude dealing with any situation including air pollution. They do not want to take any decision. They want courts to pass orders and they are happy to implement it, the court further added.

The matter will be taken up next on November 26. The Solicitor General also informed the court that the Met department has said that the wind speed would only increase by November 21 to reduce pollution.