kainat.sarfaraz@htlive.com
New Delhi
Demanding freedom from air pollution amid chants of ‘azaadi’, hundreds of Delhi residents, including college students and children, gathered at India Gate on Tuesday evening.
“We need a Greta Thunberg-like movement in Delhi for a permanent solution. It has to be a mixture of activism and policy changes,” said Debayan Saha, an entrepreneur who had developed a device for vehicles to curb air pollution.
For the past one week, the National Capital Region (NCR) was covered by a think blanket of smog, resulting from a mix of polluting factors including bursting of crackers during Diwali, stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana as well as local factors.
While citizens have been expressing concerns over social media for the past one week, on Tuesday they gathered to demand a unified action against polluted air. About 200 people were present at the protest.
Environment activist Vimlendu Jha, addressing the protest, accused the government of not doing enough. “The people are following odd-even and not bursting crackers. But what is the government doing?” he asked, suggesting “it is necessary for governments to incentivise farmers, strengthen public transport system and ensure no trees are cut for development projects.”
“This elections, we need to vote for a green party and government, which would increase the budget for environment,” said Manisha, an 11th grade student. Expressing disappointment over the lack of adequate action being taken against pollution, she said “closing schools is not a solution. If they close our schools, our studies will get affected and we’ll score poorly. Who’ll compensate for that? We need to declare climate emergency.”
{{/usCountry}}“This elections, we need to vote for a green party and government, which would increase the budget for environment,” said Manisha, an 11th grade student. Expressing disappointment over the lack of adequate action being taken against pollution, she said “closing schools is not a solution. If they close our schools, our studies will get affected and we’ll score poorly. Who’ll compensate for that? We need to declare climate emergency.”
{{/usCountry}}Her classmate Khushi shared similar thoughts. “We can’t go out and play. My mother’s health is adversely affected. In other parts of the world, they shut down cities when pollution spikes. Why aren’t they doing anything here?” she asked.