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LANDMARK JUDGEMENT ON AIR
POLLUTION. A VICTORY FOR CLEAN AIR CAMPAIGNERS.
Last fortnight the Supreme Court delivered its judgement on air pollution in Delhi and
demanded that governments - both Delhi and Union - must seriously implement its ruling to
convert public buses to CNG. It penalised the Union government with a fine of Rs. 20,000
for wasting the court's time. The Union, in its affidavit, had asked the court to allow
current diesel to be used, arguing that it was clean. The court emphasised public health
and in an important precedent has asked polluting buses to pay a daily fine, which will be
used to subsidise purchase of new CNG buses. The court order is an important victory for
all of us fighting for clean air. Read the order on our website
http://www.cseindia.org/html/cmp/air/cng/cng_cngorder_ordertext.htm
Contact our politicians who are still trying to subvert
this ruling. We give you the details
http://www.cseindia.org/html/cmp/air/cng/cng_cngorder_contacts.htm
COURT EXTENDS BRIEF TO OTHER POLLUTED CITIES.
EXTREMELY HIGH POLLUTION LEVELS IN MANY CITIES
The Supreme Court has asked the government to get serious about air pollution in other
cities of the country, otherwise, "it may become necessary for some orders to be
passed so as to bring relief to the residents of those cities." The court has asked
the government to file a time schedule to supply CNG to other polluted cities by May 9,
2002. CPCB data shows that 32 out of 59 cities monitored are critically polluted. Find out
if your city is on the list
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020415/dte_analy4.htm
BREATHING DANGEROUSLY
A recent US study has conclusive evidence on the deadly nature of fine particulate matter
in the air. These unseen particles, mostly emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels, are
cutting our lives shorter by increasing the chances of lung cancer and heart disease. We
review the global scientific evidence on these tiny killers
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020415/dte_analy.htm
TOXIC BLEND
Amid mounting global concern over pesticide-laden tea supplies, safeguards have been
erected to weed out the harmful supplies of the beverage. But when science gives out a
political aroma and governments use these benchmarks to camouflage protectionism, there's
trouble brewing. Details at
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020415/dte_srep.htm
RAT CHRONICLES
The tiny rodents that most people link only to pestilence and crop destruction have
fascinated Ishwar Prakash - a rat expert in India - for most of his life. More at
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020415/dte_life.htm
A message from the Editor
Seeing
land for trees
wood markets could be created
to the advantage of both industry and rural communities |
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