On the eve of Diwali there were awareness campaigns and marches on the roads of Delhi by secondary school and college students with placards depicting the ills of smog affecting our national capital due to pollution to the air they breathe. They were also pleading with the masses to celebrate Diwali in a pollution free atmosphere.
It is the bounden duty of every citizen to give a helping hand in this venture of pollution-free celebration of all the major festivals being observed in India. It is of paramount importance that the parents and the teachers inculcate in the minds of young ones the dangers that linger around us if we are not to do something positive to nullify its effect.
Even our President Pranab Mukherjee had to request that in the future, Diwali and other festivals to be celebrated in a pollution free ambiance and thus help reduce its ill effects. The festivals and festivities are heralded by each new year in January and culminate in the celebration of Christmas in December. Tons and tons of fireworks are used during Ganesh Chaturti, Diwali, Christmas, New Year, weddings, on winning elections, by the tourism and hotel industries, etc. Just to experience a transient ‘feel good effect’ to the visual mind, crores of rupees goes down the drain and up in flames.
This Diwali the pollution level in Delhi and its vicinity rose menacingly at its worst to 3,000 mcg/m3 i.e. about fifty times the normal WHO permissible level of 60 mcg/m3. Imagine what a detrimental effect it will have on the populace and persons suffering from allergic disorders specially respiratory. With all these ill-effects in mind it is only logical that the centre enacts an Anti-Pollution Act in the forthcoming winter Parliamentary session, banning in toto all the forms of fireworks keeping the well being of its citizens as its first priority. It not only generates a lot of smoke, but the sound of fire bombs can be deleterious on the near by elderly heart patients. Thus reducing noise pollution that to, late at nights till dawn will atleast ensure peaceful and a good nights sleep to the elderly.
Finally if the whole global community supports this cause unanimously when it is made aware of the same in the forthcoming Paris Convention on Global Warming and climate change, the delegates should examine it meticulously and positively. If every continent contributes its share in decreasing this overwhelming problem then half of the battle will be won. The rest will be monitoring industrialization, reckless felling trees etc.
