Covid-19: Bombay HC asks Maharashtra to check rising air pollution due to increase in cremations

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government and the state pollution control board to address the issue of rising air pollution owing to increase in instances of cremations following deaths due to the Covid19 pandemicA bench of Justices Amjad Sayyad and G S Kulkarni was hearing a plea filed by six housing societies in Pune highlighting the rise in air pollution due to the increase in the number of cremations at a nearby crematorium because of Covid19 deathsWe want the pollution control board to utilise its expertise and what can be the best possible technology to prevent smoke The PCB will have to devise a mechanism We are still using traditional methods the HC saidIt said the authorities must use scientific devices at crematoriums to tackle the issue of pollutionAdvocate Sharmila Deshmukh who appeared for the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board told the HC that MPCBs chairperson could nominate a technical expert to help devise ways to arrest the toxic emissions from crematoriumsThe court directed the state government and the MPCB to address the bench on the issue on June 2Also ReadCovid19 vaccine trials on children in India to begin soon GovtThe court was told that following a previous hearing where the HC was informed of lapses on part of the Pune Municipal Corporation PMC about maintaining records on the availability of hospital beds for Covid19 patients a person on the help desk was suspendedEarlier this month the civic body claimed in the HC that surplus ICU and ventilator beds were available in PuneA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni had then asked advocate Rajesh Inamdar the counsel for one of the petitioners out of a bunch of PILs seeking various reliefs to call on the PMCs helpline number and put it on speakerInamdar then made two calls asking for a ventilator bed and was told there were no beds availableInamdar told the HC on Thursday that the woman who had answered the call was subsequently suspendedHowever advocate Abhijit Kulkarni who appeared for the PMC told the HC he had spoken to the woman concernedThe civic body had sought an explanation from her and she said that she was flustered at that time and had not been able to provide the correct information to the callerShe will be trained properly to handle calls She has been suspended for 10 to 15 days but I will speak to the authorities to ensure she is not punished unnecessarily Kulkarni saidThe high court said the woman must be reinstatedWhat is this Is this true Please ensure she is back on the job the HC told KulkarniWe do not want anyone to suffer because of our intervention in any matter it saidWhile hearing another plea related to the coronavirus pandemic the same bench directed the Union government to file an affidavit on the approvals granted by the Centre on the prescription and use of the drug Ivermectin for treating Covid19 infectionsIt was hearing a PIL which claimed that while doctors in the country had been prescribing Ivermectin the drug did not have the approval of international regulatory authoritiesThe HC directed the Union government to file its affidavit by June 9This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever