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Changing Times in our cities
15th Feb 1999 Kedar N. Mahapatra @hotmail.com
In the following article Mr. Khuswant Singh sounds nostalgic about pathetic deterioration of the environment in Delhi in the recent years. The trend holds true for most of our cities and towns. I used to consider Bhubaneswar as a cleaner city compared to many other cities in India. Recently I have been to Bhubaneswar after a gap of three years and I felt really suffocated with the increased level of smoke and dust in air. I developed severe respiratory disorder during three weeks I stayed there. I also heard from local doctors that asthma cases are getting increased in Bhubaneswar over the years. The situation may be worse in many other places. However, it is heartening to know that Surat which was inflicted by plague not long ago, has become one of the cleanest city of India during last a few years. It is really amazing to note that it was possible under the active leadership of one IAS officer who happened to be the Executive officer of the municipality/corporation of the city. He was successful to motivate the people of the city in this endeavor through his sincerity to the purpose. It indicates that it is indeed possible to bring change in the situation in our cities if our bureaucrats are sincere about their duty. Why not we give thought to this crucial issue, which is going to be more serious in the coming years! Changing times Khushwant Singh It`s been a hard, long winter - the longest and hardest within living memory. Never before do I recall Delhi being under a blanket of fog from a week before Christmas to the first week of February. Come to think of it I can`t recall a single foggy day till a few years after independence. I`ve known colder days in Delhi but for very short spells - no more than four or five days when water in the marble fountain in the garden froze to ice. But the days were crisp and clear with blue skies and bright sunshine. Above all the air was always fresh. The nights were still and silent. We knew the progress of the moon from the crescent to its fullness. On moonless nights the sky was studded with myriads of stars. We saw meteors break loose from their moorings and disappear into the unknown. We watched the constellation we knew and could guess the time from the position of Great Bear round the Pole Star. The only noises that slightly disturbed our early slumbers were the howling of jackals round garbage dumps and calls of night watchmen, shouting to each other khabardar ho! There were no policemen on patrol duties. Thefts and robberies were rare occurrences. All that has changed. No jackals howl, no watchmen call to each other. Police vans scamper about throughout the night. On an average there are four to five cases of theft, robbery, rape and murder every twentyfour hours. Worse of all is the change in climate. To breathe fresh air you have to go twenty miles or more beyond city limits. To see the stars and the moon you have to go even further because city and village lights have robbed us of Nature`s gift of darkness. Our one and only river, the Yamuna, has become a sewer fouled by human waste, chemical effluents and half burnt bodies. People continue to bathe in it because their forefathers did so. We drink its water, filtered though it is, at our own peril. Those of us who can afford it, prefer bottled mineral water. What bothers us most is foul air we have to inhale day and night. It gets fouler by the day as more buses, cars and scooters take to our already congested roads. I, who had not known illness in my long life, was stricken by viral flu. The fever left me but cough persists. I know if I got out of the city for a few days, my chest and broncial tubes would clear. I can`t leave my place of work because I have to earn my living. The same holds true of all other citizens. We citizens have reason to be angry. Many things that make our cities unliveable can be taken care of. Put an immediate ban on emptying sewers and effluents in our river. Declare at least one day in the week when petrol or diesel- run vehicles (except ambulances, fire-brigades and police cars) will not be allowed on the roads. No more sermons/speeches and learned papers
