Environment: the story remains unaltered

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 4. Be it in the North or the South, East or West, the life support systems - land, water and air - are continuously dwindling. The otherwise invaluable assets such as population, industry and commerce are causing acute environmental problems and threatening normal life.

Be it the quality status of waterways in Chennai or the river water in West Bengal; Be it the air purity in Delhi or the bio- medical waste management in Lucknow: Be it the pollution potential of mines or the noise pollution level of mega cities; Be it ground water contamination in industrial estates or the oil slick in Bay of Bengal - the story remains unaltered. The environmental status of the country has only turned from bad to worse.

Yet, it is that time of the year again to remind and be reminded of the environmental pressures on mankind and get set to reverse the detrimental process that has set in over the years.

The Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr. T. R. Baalu, has a busy schedule tomorrow, the World Environment Day, when vows will be made to protect and conserve the environment. While official documents claim something positive on the environment, the sarkari babus would be attending seminars and workshops organised by NGOs indulging in government bashing for its ineffective policies and plans. The contradiction is never explained but only overlooked.

If Save the Environment motto being publicised for at least a decade now was being executed as sincerely, then what explains, for instance, the capital's increased vulnerability to earthquakes and floods, the threat of acid rain or the rapidly depleting forest cover leaving the city with just one square km of forest cover for its three million people two decades from now?

Drinking water does not meet the basic required norm due to contamination, deforestation and mismanagement of solid and municipal wastes, according to various agencies like the Central Pollution Control Board and the Tata Energy Research Institute.

Industrial pollution may have marginally reduced but increased vehicular pollution has left a dent in the net gain. Handling and managing sewage, bio-medical and hazardous wastes, manufacture and storage of hazardous chemicals, use of recycled plastic, the aftermath of cyclones and quakes are few of the many problems that have not disappeared with each year's promises and years of policy framing but have only reinforced themselves to the detriment of human health and living conditions.

It would do good to give a serious thought to what each of us can really do to save the environment instead of leaving the task to policy makers alone. How many of us actually do it?

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Section  : National
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