The Supreme Court on Monday lashed out the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the issue of air pollution which has become the biggest health hazard for Indian citizens. The apex court told the environment ministry that 60,000 people died due to pollution in 2017. Most of these deaths happened in the big cities of the country. 

Justice Madan Lokur told the Ministry, “The newspapers say people are dying of pollution. We don’t know if it fake news or not, you may know better.” He further emphasised that the people of this country are more important than anything. 

The apex court slammed the ministry and asked what is more important for the Ministry, the lives of the people or the industries? The court also asked, are the people not supposed to breathe anymore? Since the ministry has failed to come up with a substantial step to curb the air pollution menace, the court also asked the concerned officials, what has they done to curb the current situation of air pollution?

This is not the first time that the apex court has pulled down the environment ministry in the current climate. Citizens are living in abysmal conditions especially in cities. Due to massive amount of emissions from industries and factories, the quality of air in big cities has been bordering hazardous and crossing that red line at times too.