With Diwali round the corner and the threat of getting gripped by the menace called pollution, it seems that Dwarka is not taking its ‘most polluted area’ tag seriously as civic agencies are unable to curb it in any given manner. Dwarka News
All sorts of norms laid seem to be violated. A visit by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) Chairman, Dr Bhure Lal, to the affected areas recently defeats the purpose as issues like garbage burning, ongoing construction work and others are still rampant.
Besides, a blame game is also going on. On one hand where residents are blaming the authorities for their callous attitude, authorities, on the other, are holding people responsible for this grave situation. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials say they are taking initiatives and implementing proper measures but in reality, it is not at all visible.
Sanjeev Sharma, a resident of Sector 11 said, “Mechanical sweeping machines can be seen on master plan map but not on actual roads. This is merely eyewash and nothing else. The service lanes, too, are full of dust and there seems to be no solution from civic bodies.”
Sweepers, who do manual sweeping, are facing a tough time due to excessive dust.
“I have developed respiratory problem since two weeks. I bought this mask couple of days back from a roadside vendor. I do not know how effective is this, but corporation must take care of us as we are in direct exposure of dust every day,” told one of the sweepers to City Spidey, working in Sector 13 during his morning schedule.
When we asked the civic agencies concerned about the steps they are taking to curb the pollution, they said that sprinkling of water would be carried out to settle the dust on the roads. They also assured that dust settled on trees, leaves will be washed off but nothing has happened yet. Locals are facing harrowing time going out for a walk in the morning and evening.
Ramesh Mumukshu, an environment activist and resident of Sector 16 B, said, “Authorities are not at all serious and they do not seem to take honest initiatives, otherwise, the pollution would have been controlled. Roads are full of dust and there is no solution whatsoever.”
In its press release dated 12th October 2018, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said that they were committed to mitigate air pollution and all sorts of machineries, including 18 mechanical sweepers, 40 new water tankers, 5 small water sprinklers and 20 additional water sprinklers, would be used to neutralise the pollution by taking proper measures. But, all these have been proved as ‘mere eyewash’ and nothing else.
“The increasing level of pollution every day is a proof in itself that SDMC is doing nothing. What can we say? We are the worst sufferers,” Nirmala Singh, a resident of Sector 14, said.
