Summer holidays were on, and we
were all longing to do something special! Gobar Times asked, "Would you do some
reporting?" All of us jumped at the idea. Though some of us backed out in between,
each one of us put in our best effort into this special edition of Gobar Times. By the
way, we named this issue ‘Kalapani" after our boat ride on the Yamuna! It was
Yuk!Nowadays pollution is so high that some people are even dying because of it.
There is not one person who does not create pollution. Pollution is rising everyday, but
not many people are doing much about it. People throw their waste on land, into water and
pollute the air with harmful gases and compounds. Are fines the answer?
We took a ride
down Yamuna. And Chee! Is this what we drink?
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Rivers like the Yamuna that were called holy earlier are now smelly with
toxins. Even if all the garbage is collected, only some part of it is recycled; the rest
of it is dumped into rivers, ponds or into pits dug in the earth's surface.
Nowadays almost everyone has a bike, scooter or a car. All these vehicles release smoke
into the atmosphere. Diesel buses also emit a lot of smoke and other toxins that pollute
our atmosphere. People move from villages to cities to seek a ‘better’ life.
Increasing urbanisation increases wastes, which only leads to more land pollution. More
factories are being built because we people want more and more! All these factories and
industries throw out their waste into our land, water and air.
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All the garbage the government collects is dumped into landfills. These are located
away from the city, usually near a village, and they pollute the land and water there. Our
waste therefore affects the villagers. It is like throwing garbage out of our house and
into our neighbour’s house. Much of the waste takes a long time to decompose, and
especially plastics.
The noise levels are also rising. Nowadays rockets and jets are launched. There are
traffic jams in which horns are endlessly heard. Sometimes these sounds are so high that
some people go deaf.
There are many problems with our city but can’t we start doing things at our end?
Let’s plan out our waste and water management programmes and then approach the
government. We can’t keep waiting for someone else to start!
ABHINAV ANAND
A
running tap wastes more than 300 litres a minute. |
