NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) has initiated suo motu proceedings based on a news report relating to a study, published in Lancet Planetary Health journal, that linked 33,000 deaths annually in 10 major India cities to air pollution levels that exceed World Health Organisation ( WHO ) guidelines. The cities include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla, and Varanasi.
The tribunal, while flagging the findings of the study, has issued notices to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), environment ministry , and the state pollution control boards of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, and listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday.
Referring to the news report, NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava, judicial member justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel in their order noted the study's findings which show that even cities previously considered less polluted, such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Chennai, are significantly affected by air pollution.
The Lancet Planetary Health's study on deaths linked to air pollution earlier caught the attention of Lok Sabha members who asked questions to the environment ministry on the issue during the budget session of Parliament in July.
The ministry in a written response, however, clearly said that there was "no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively with air pollution".
"Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment," said the ministry.
It said the article published in the journal was based on a study conducted using statistical models, and cited its limitations that the study was unable to conduct analysis of cause-specific mortality.
The tribunal, while flagging the findings of the study, has issued notices to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), environment ministry , and the state pollution control boards of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, and listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday.
Referring to the news report, NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava, judicial member justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel in their order noted the study's findings which show that even cities previously considered less polluted, such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Chennai, are significantly affected by air pollution.
The Lancet Planetary Health's study on deaths linked to air pollution earlier caught the attention of Lok Sabha members who asked questions to the environment ministry on the issue during the budget session of Parliament in July.
The ministry in a written response, however, clearly said that there was "no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively with air pollution".
"Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment," said the ministry.
It said the article published in the journal was based on a study conducted using statistical models, and cited its limitations that the study was unable to conduct analysis of cause-specific mortality.
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