Days may go away soon when screaming advertisements of a product can ride on a voiceless tree for the free and mock the nature-lovers shamelessly! If the Government pays heeds to the decision taken by the agency for pollution control in Jharkhand, the activity of misusing the leafy creators for petty commercial gains would be stopped. Jharkhand would be probably the first State in the country to do this by legislation.
The noble step came after the 27th meeting of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) taken place on Thursday. The meeting, headed by Chairman Mani Shankar, decided to send a proposal immediately to the Government to enact a law to stop misuse of tree for commercial purposes.
“We can see uses of trees for commercial purposes. It is continuing unchecked in the State. Under the practice, fixing advertisement boards, putting heavy nails, wires are other act take place on trees that harm health of plants and the environment in the end," said Mani Shankar. The matter was also came for discussion during 'Harit Diwas' observed on August 31 in the State in which Chief Minister Hemant Soren was also present.
The JSPCB's effort has made the ban on polythene below 50 micron thickness applicable in the State and Government has recently notified this as well. In a similar pro-environment decision, all the stone crushers operating in the State had been told to compulsorily plant at least 100 plants at their campuses and protect them for six years. The condition was put for acquiring NOC from the Board to operate.
In another important decision, the JSPCB also decided to appoint an expert agency for evaluating the radiation emitted from mobile towers across towns and cities of Jharkhand. The agency would conduct a survey and present its opinion before the Board for its consideration. Interestingly, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation had also started the exercise without much success in the city and several attempts to measure the radiation level of electro-magnetic ray emitting from cell phone towers and considered reason behind diseases such as brain tumor and several heart and brain related ailments.
The Board also decided to bring online all its activities and also connect all its five regional centers. This will ease application and their disposal procedure coming from various agencies and entrepreneurs for its approval.