A quick look at the Environmental Pollution!. Review on Planning

These are my views on environmental pollution out of my experience. To begin with God has been generous enough in providing us the bountiful nature around us in the form of mountains, forests, rivers, seas, lakes, ponds, colorful flowers, etc to name a few. Most of our cities are outlined with hills, lakes and forests which help us to unwind ourselves from the monotony of our life. This review will help us to remind ourselves all that we have studied during our school days about the various agents of pollution and denudation. While on one hand we take all measures to maintain the greenery planting trees but on the other hand we humans are instrumental in destroying the environment for ourour area selfish motives. We clean our homes dumping our waste in places where we should not, defecate on the footpaths,dump our chemical waste and sewage water into the sea. 1. Let us take the hills first. In order to create spaces for constructing buildings we destroy the hills and forests. Apart from the animal life being disturbed, the cutting of trees encourages denudation thereby disturbing the ecological balance. 2. The next on the list are the water resources. We pollute the sea by dumping our sewage and chemical waste into it. This also includes idol immersions during Ganesh festivals in the sea. And the worst affected by idol immersions are the various lakes and ponds along with the marine creatures. The main culprit in this exercise is the paint and the plaster of Paris used in the manufacture of idols. The plaster of paris blocks the natural springs on the bed due to which fresh water is stopped and the stagnant water gets polluted. Moreover the fishes die due to the chemicals used in the paints. And even if they survive it is harmful for the people who consume the fish. Thane was once famous as a ''Lake city''. Out of the 60 lakes in Thane only a few exist and even those remaining are polluted with the idol immersions year after year. Since the past couple of years there has been a lot of awareness created by the environmentalists and schools discouraging the idol immersions but the result is not very encouraging. Alternatives like making a small clay idol at home and later on immersing it in a bucket of water was also recommended, which sounded practical. It is high time people realize the extent of damage already done to the environment due to the sentiments attached to these rituals. The local bodies need to take some stringent steps on this score. 3. And the next aspect of environmental pollution includes shitting in open places. This issue has to be tackled by the Municipality by constructing sufficient toilets for the slum-dwellers. I would like to highlight a couple of examples. a) One such place that comes in my mind is the railway tracks between Central Railway stations Sion and Matunga. The moment the train leaves Sion Station for Matunga, one has to seal the nose to avoid the awful stench. The Railway minister should be taken around on this route in a local train to experience it himself. How long will this nuisance continue? It is all the more strange to see the Mumbai people becoming immune to the noise and smell that they don't even raise their voice against these issues. This nuisance is found practically in and around the slums. Even in places where there are toilet facilities, these people litter the footpaths making it impossible for us to use them thereby endangering our lives. b) Another pristine area frequented by morning walkers is the Yeoor Hills at Thane West. At the foothill there is a lake which is frequented by many for a breath of fresh air. This area is once again an example of nature's wonderful gift and a feast for the eyes. The slopes of Yeoor hills is an open toilet for the slum-dwellers. The construction workers living around this area are the culprits. The builders are not bothered to construct toilet facilities for them. We have not discussed the noise pollution as yet, which is also very alarming and will need a separate review to be discussed. The list can go on and on but we can definitely work wonders by making efforts in restoring the nature's valuable gifts. Let us take an oath to make efforts to stop further degradation of the environment, so that the coming generation have something to look forward to.