How to reverse disastrous conditions in the cities of India

[caption id="attachment_22470" align="alignleft" width="336"] Smog in New Delhi[/caption]

Asim Boral----Just a few days ago I witnessed the Sabarmati marathon race in the polluted City of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state of India . Thousands of enthusiastic people were running or walking in the morning roads, in my opinion it was disaster to so many people unable to tolerate the huge smog they were passing that lingered in every street .There ware no ambulance vans available for these tired people, breathing that pollution, which could have been a disaster and human tragedy.

Today some environmental activists in cities and towns are involved actively in saving trees and raising money from donations or government assistance to run their NGO activities.  But in some ways, they may be bringing their own problems or a virtual death knell for city life.

It is always good to see plants in areas of the cities, and this should be encouraged.  But I also feel that overgrowth of trees can also cause a different type of pollution that is not present in the rural villages where they belong.

Real places for an expanse of trees should be in places like rural villages in India in the jungle – coastal areas.  In the cities we find trees that have already been polluted with dust and smoke.   Cities emit gaseous substances like CO2 (Carbon dioxide ) in the night, which is something that takes to vanish from earth due to no sun not visible until mid-morning.  Low emission of oxygen in the daytime then causes heavy smog in the morning.

As a consequence of these conditions, people suffer from various upper respiratory ailments, some of which medical scientists declare could result in serious diseases, like cancer.  Asthma, we know, is a very prominent disease in India and in almost all the cities of the country where more han 60 lakh people live in a polluted environment from vehicular gases to carbon monoxide as well as the smoke which pours from huge wood fire chullas from millions of people who live in open sky along the pathways.

Government apathy is part of the problem, as agencies don’t look after these environmental issues properly, which causes even more disastrous situations in the cities of India in terms of living conditions.  So those who ask for more trees in cities are actually causing more problems and bringing more death to humans and living things.

Plants should grow in their rightful places and rightful places for plants are in Rural Indian Villages.  That is why I say India needs 50,000 developed villages within 100 km of any big cities in a circular way with the most modern connectivity of a railway system to link cities and towns.  Solar and alternative energy sources should be used.  Industries that cause pollution should be kept away from the population of cities.  Cities should also not be overburdened with trees, but rather have a green zone with its concrete well instead of covering all the roads with green trees, that block the vision of the drivers who are already trying to find their way on polluted roadways.

The ideal cities should be clean, solid with less damaging roads, and constructed systematically along with solid architectural buildings for people to live.  And finally we should not allow more trees in the cities.

 

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Asim Boral lives in India and is a freelance writer concerned about the economic welfare and health of the people of his country.