The Supreme Court today directed the Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB, to prepare standards for emission by industries in the National Capital Region, NCR, to bring down the level of air pollutants.<br/><br/>A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta directed the CPCB to prepare the standards for emission by June 30, which should be followed by industries by December this year.<br/><br/>Senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the court in the case, submitted that standards for emission should be formulated and if industries do not comply with them within seven month, they should be closed down.<br/><br/>Salve, who is appearing in a 1985 PIL filed by environmentalist M C Mehta, also highlighted the ill-effects of petcoke and furnace oil used in industries on ambient air and said that the emissions from such units were highly toxic as these released high sulphur content.<br/><br/>Earlier, the apex court had said that the problem of air pollution was very serious and solutions needed to be found urgently, rather than in years.