The capital has become a city battered by pollution of all forms over the years drawing attention and concern. On World Environment Day, experts came together to discuss how Delhi’s future generations can be protected from pollution
Air, water and habitat — parts of the environment most affected by human interference and in return influencing our well-being — are major concerns when one thinks of issues that need attention immediately. On World Environment Day, June 5, the NGO Green Circle of Delhi held a dialogue to discuss these three major concerns while planning a blueprint for a cleaner, healthier Delhi by 2025.
The focus during the event was not just environmental issues but also human beings. Solid waste management, reducing cars on the roads and open defecation were at the foreground apart from the effect of extreme urbanisation on vulnerable groups.
PK Tripathi, former Chief Secretary of Delhi, said that the need of the hour was in enlarging the reach of public transport and enhancing its present conditions. “Public transport should be extremely efficient in order to restrain people from getting their private vehicles on road,” he added. He also highlighted on improving infrastructure for pedestrians to encourage more people to take up walking and suggested that higher parking rates by the municipal corporation and decline of surface parking area should act as a deterrent for those who want to buy vehicles.
Prof RB Singh, department of Geography at Delhi University, emphasised upon the necessity of solid waste management along with spreading his concern over the vulnerable groups. “Poor people are more prone to the difficulties of pollution than rich ones. Also, the ratio of forest cover area has considerably declined over the years. We need a carbon resilient city for a better future,” he said.
The sanitation and conservancy workers are the crusaders of the environment, said Prof Sangamithra Sheel Acharya, Centre Of Human Health and Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, while adding that the sewage system in some parts of the country are old and ancestral.
“Our motto should be of leaving no one behind in the course of environment welfare,” she added.
Collectively, the event was a significant attempt by The Green Circle and India International Centre to lay down foundations for youth in the path of having a cleaner future for Delhi by 2025.