National Green Tribunal constitutes committee to examine and control air pollution around Delhi AIIMS

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) at Delhi on Friday constituted a seven-member joint committee to investigate and control air pollution around the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. [Gaurav Sharma vs Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors.].A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Sudhir Agarwal, and expert member Prof. A Senthil Veil passed the order on an application against the failure of statutory and administrative authorities to control air pollution, causing harm to the health of indoor and outdoor patients, doctors, and staff of AIIMS..Advocate Jasmine Damkewala, Senior Partner, Circle of Counsels, for the applicant, informed the tribunal that the pollution around AIIMS Delhi is being caused by a significant number of hawkers, shopkeepers, and vehicles. She pointed out that these elements are not only obstructing the movement of ambulances but also encroaching pavements. Further, she said that the absence of an adequate green belt in the area is preventing the absorption of dust and carbon dioxide emissions, which is crucial to maintaining air quality within prescribed limits. She also highlighted the lack of proper measures to handle garbage and bio-medical waste scientifically. It was further submitted that AIIMS is an institution of excellence with multi-specialty treatment facilities where daily footfall has increased to 65,000 persons and footfall of vehicles has increased to 7,500 per day. In that backdrop, she stated that even healthy people visiting such environment may be affected by disease on account of air pollution, apart from treatment of patients becoming more difficult.The advocate presented photographs of encroachments and articles describing the adverse impact of air pollution. She also mentioned that the pollution levels during November and December, as recorded by three AAQ monitoring stations - Sirifort, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, and R.K. Puram - were in the 'severe' category..Taking into account the submissions, the NGT concluded that the matter needed consideration and hence constituted the committee..The Committee will be headed by the Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and will include other members such as DCP (Traffic), area Divisional Forest Officer, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, and Director of AIIMS or their nominee, and a nominee of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital. The Committee will verify the facts, conduct online or offline proceedings, visit the site, and coordinate with concerned authorities and stakeholders. It will submit its factual report with recommendations for short-term and long-term measures to control air pollution, including traffic regulation, shifting to battery-operated vehicles, removal of encroachments and hawkers, dense plantations, noise and dust control measures, and water sprinkling. The Member Secretary of DPCC and Director of AIIMS or their nominee will jointly be the nodal agency for coordination and compliance. The Committee has to furnish its report to the NGT within one month..[Read Order]