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The Calcutta High Court connected Monday (January 19, 2026) took suo motu cognisance of worsening aerial contamination successful Kolkata and its surrounding areas, similar Howrah. With Kolkata’s AQI slipping beneath Delhi’s connected immoderate occasions, the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court also issued notices to the State government, seeking their effect connected the issue.
The suo motu lawsuit is acceptable to beryllium heard on with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Akash Sharma astir the continued deteriorating aerial contamination of Kolkata and sought intervention from the State.
Reply sought by February 28
On Monday (January 19), the division seat of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen asked the State and different respondents successful the PIL to reply to the concerns by February 28 and said the lawsuit would beryllium listed for proceeding aft that.
In the PIL, advocator Sharma mentioned that helium had notified the West Bengal Government and the West Bengal Pollution Control Board about the deteriorating AQI but “no enforceable” enactment was taken.
“For that, the continuing vulnerability of residents of Kolkata and Howrah to “very poor”, “severe” and “hazardous” aerial prime levels constitutes a nonstop and ongoing usurpation of the cardinal close to beingness and wellness guaranteed nether Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the PIL further stated.
The PIL further said that this was not a one-time lapse but a recurring issue, successful which work is shifted between departments, resulting in a deficiency of coordinated action.
Experts pass of multi-layered problem
Professor Abhijit Chatterjee of the Bose Institute, who has worked extensively connected the contented of aerial pollution, said that the precocious AQI and contamination level successful Kolkata this wintertime were not owed to the higher emissions of pollutants, but alternatively the higher accumulation of pollutants compared to caller years, which was favoured by atmospheric and meteorological factors. He added that 1 of the cardinal factors is the bound layer. This is the tallness supra the surface, up to which pollutants get trapped. The higher the height, the lower the contamination level is adjacent the surface.
“Extreme acold lowered the bound layer, trapping pollutants person to the aboveground and importantly expanding section contamination levels... Added to this is the burning of waste, including electrical wastes, rubber and different synthetic materials successful the metropolis astatine night, which emits ample amounts of integrated compounds and helps signifier a haze aboriginal adjacent morning,” Mr. Chatterjee told The Hindu on Monday. (January 19)
He said that stringent enactment is required against indiscriminate discarded burning and called for widespread nationalist awareness.
An investigation by Respirer Living Sciences utilizing its Atlas AQ level revealed that on 82 days in 2025, Kolkata’s AQI was chiefly driven by toxic gaseous pollutants, specified arsenic nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ground-level ozone (O₃), alternatively than particulate substance (PM2.5 oregon PM10). The firm stated that this posed important wellness risks for residents of the metropolis and surrounding areas, which could beryllium overlooked if the relation of toxic gases is not studied.
“If metropolis enactment plans absorption only on PM2.5 and PM10, we hazard under-responding to real vulnerability scenarios,” Ronak Sutaria, laminitis and CEO, Respirer, said. “AQI is designed to beryllium multi-pollutant, and our responses indispensable bespeak that.”
The investigation recovered that concern areas successful Dunlop, Ultadanga, Moulali, Rabindra Sarobar, and Howrah Bridge corridors had a overmuch higher aerial contamination level owed to toxic emissions.
