SC to review its verdict that made pollution certificate mandatory for car insurance

India’s Supreme Court will revisit its 2017 order making the pollution under control certificate (PUC) mandatory to renew third-party motor insurance policy. The verdict review came after the court was informed that after its order, nearly 55% vehicles still do not have insurance cover, which is posing great difficulty for victims seeking settlement of compensation claims in road accidents.

“A right balance has to be struck that vehicles remain compliant with PUC norms and all vehicles must also have insurance cover,” the court stated. The matter is posted for hearing on July 15.

Singh informed the court that the commission for air quality management for Delhi and adjoining areas (CAQM) can be consulted. The 2017 order was passed based on the recommendation of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, or EPCA, a statutory body.

3,800 tonnes solid waste untreated in Delhi violates fundamental rights of people: SC

The Supreme Court expressed its “horror” over tonnes of untreated solid waste in Delhi and the neighbouring cities violating citizens’ right to pollution-free environment. The top court urged urgent action to curb pollution, reported the HT. 

The court said, “What signal are we sending to the world if “3,800 TPD (tonnes per day) of solid waste remains untreated in the Capital.” The Supreme Court flagged the gap in the treatment of solid waste in Delhi and neighbouring cities of Gurugram, Faridabad and Greater Noida.

A court said immediate measures should be undertaken to ensure that the quantity of untreated solid waste does not increase till proper facilities are put in place to treat them.

Faridabad: Green court’s 2018 order to tackle construction waste ignored? 

Seven years after India’s green court ordered it to tackle construction and demolition waste, the municipal corporation of Faridabad (bordering Delhi) failed to set up dedicated units to dispose of the construction waste. The NGT, in its order in 2018, had asked civic authorities to implement a project to tackle the problem, but no functional unit could be set up even though four units had been proposed by the civic body.

It is claimed that despite outsourcing the project worth several crores under the PPP mode, the contractor came up with only one unit, which is inoperative due to technical issues, the report said.

Andhra villagers to boycott polls over pollution of air, land and water by ethanol factory   

Residents of Gandepalli in Kanchikacherla mandal of NTR district (coastal Andhra Pradesh) have decided to boycott the elections over water and air pollution caused by the Sentini BioProducts Private Limited in their village. They want the ethanol factory in there area be sealed. The 2008 distillery had a production capacity of 125-kilo litre per day (KLPD) which was upgraded (with environmental clearance) \ for setting up a separate ethanol plant of 200 KLPD in April 2023.

Bokka Ravi Kumar Village headman (sarpanch) told The Hindu they have repeatedly writing to the officials regarding crop loss and dust, air and water pollution in the village, and now they have written to the NTR district administration that they would boycott the elections if their demands are not met. A 2022 Lokayukta enquiry revealed that the factory was polluting the irrigation canals and rivers and damaging nearby crops.

Flame retardants in car seats pollute cabin air, pose cancer risk: Study

The use of flame retardants in car seats pollutes the air inside cars with the highly toxic chemicals, putting commuters who spend significant time in cars at the most risk, new research found.

The US-based study checked air inside the cabins of 101 cars from model year 2015 or newer. Virtually all air samples contained 1-chloro-isopropyl phosphate, a flame retardant considered by the US National Toxicology Program to be a potential carcinogen.

Most also showed organophosphate ester flame retardants, which in children are thought to cause asthma, early growth, adiposity and brain damage. Meanwhile, two of the chemicals are listed as California Proposition 65 carcinogens, and people with the highest levels of some flame retardants in their blood have about four times the risk of dying from cancer.

UK ‘net-zero’ project will produce 20m tonnes of carbon pollution, say experts

A multibillion-pound “net zero” project backed by two of the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms will be responsible for more than 20 million tonnes of planet-heating carbon over its lifetime, according to research submitted to the UK government. BP and Equinor’s Net Zero Teesside scheme, to build a new gas-fired power station in north-east England, will use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to capture up to 95% of its emissions and bury them beneath the North Sea. But according to evidence submitted to the government, even if the project’s claims for its carbon capture and storage facility prove accurate, the gas power station would still be responsible for more than 20 million tonnes of carbon pollution over its lifetime.

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