: Every day eight people on an average are dying in Delhi due to air pollution-related diseases, the Supreme Court on Monday said even as it directed the Centre to consider banning the use of fuels high in sulphur content — furnace oil and pet coke — by industries in NCR.
A Bench of Justices M B Lokur and P C Pant quoted a study of a Boston-based institute which said that every year around 3000 people die in Delhi due to air pollution-related diseases. "A 2010 study of the Boston-based institute on health effects estimates that at least 3000 pre-mature deaths take place annually in Delhi due to air pollution-related diseases.
"The World Allergy Organisation's journal published a report in 2013 on the high respiratory disorder symptoms which says that students living in Chandni Chowk in North Delhi have 66 percent such symptoms, West Delhi's Mayapuri (59 percent) and South Delhi's Sarojini Nagar (46 percent). "Heavy traffic movement has been found to be the factor responsible for the relative difference between the localities," the Bench said while quoting the report in the order.Refusing to grant eight weeks' time to the Centre to talk to all stake holders using sulphur-heavy fuels, the bench said that eight weeks' time is too long and granted four weeks.