KOCHI: Air pollution is a silent killer and it impacts the people’s health and the nation’s economy, the Kerala high court said while upholding state pollution control board’s order regulating the use of diesel generators at mobile towers during power outages.
In the judgment (WP-C No. 17676/2022), justice N Nagaresh said, “Air pollution is a silent killer. The air pollution levels in India are considered as high. Exposure to particulate matter can cause deadly illness like lung cancer, stroke and heart diseases. The health impacts of pollution have a cost on the nation’s economy also. Sectors such as agriculture, industry, power, households, and transport, all contribute to particulate matter emission.”
The mobile service provider had contended that its energy switching centres cannot be treated as an industrial plant and had challenged a directive to reduce emission from diesel generator sets above 500KVA by 30 per cent. Ruling that the directive is justified, the court said while the WHO has set a safety limit of particulate matter of 23 micrograms per cubic metre, diesel generator sets cause the density to increase upto 300 micrograms per cubic metre.
