Builders liable for rising air pollution: Tribunal

Green tribunal said whenever work is halted due to rising air pollution, the builder, not the workers, have to face consequences, including wage payment during period

National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday upheld the "polluter pays" principle, saying builders will have to face "consequences" for polluting air in the national capital. 

The green tribunal clarified that whenever work is halted due to rising air pollution, the builder, and not the workers, have to face consequences, including payment of wages during the period.

"It is a settled rule of environmental jurisprudence that polluter pays, covers all consequential effects of air pollution. It is the polluter who is expected to take all precautions and face consequences," the tribunal said. It said the responsibility of paying construction workers also lay with builders when construction in the city is stopped due to rising air pollution.

The tribunal directed authorities concerned to give by Friday the minutes of meeting of the monitoring committee formed by NGT to prepare plan on combating air pollution in Delhi.

Dubbing the situation as akin to an emergency, the tribunal had, on November 8, banned all construction throughout National Capital Region and directed Municipal Corporation of Delhi to deploy 50% of its staff to ensure no violation of its order.

On Thursday, NGT directed Delhi government to place its order of November 10 on air pollution before competent authorities along with data on ambient quality as informed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The bench noted that as per the data submitted on November 14-15, there was a spike in particulate matter (PM) 10, which is found in dust emanating from construction activities.

On November 10, the tribunal had passed a slew of directions including setting up of centralised and state-level monitoring committees to prepare action plans to combat pollution and asked four northern states to consider banning old diesel vehicles in a bid to tackle environment emergencies.