Life was going smoothly until one fine morning, on waking up, we found, hazy atmosphere with poor visibility and toxic air to breathe. Checking the air quality index, found it was way above the danger mark. We looked at Goggle to find what is being done to address the issue. Construction and Demolition activities were banned and schools closed. Advisory being issued for staying indoors and to avoid travel. Some of the IT companies offering work home options to employees. It gave us a little solace.
But no yoga session in our lovely Park, no morning walks in this choking atmosphere. It is time for cursing and blaming peasants who burn parali, the government not being able to control them and not taking proper action and those who burn crackers and fireworks. This gives us further satisfaction as it has become a part of life. So, we have the ‘kya fark padta hai’ attitude after that. We had done our duty.
But wait and introspect. Look at another perspective. What are we doing? Where are we standing? Squandering two months of our precious /valuable life per year, with an indifferent attitude. It is 17% of an entire year. Is it ok to just stand, curse and watch?
Many organizations are doing their part. NGOs, Schools and colleges with skits, hoardings, pamphlets, and our Samvada itself is publishing articles on this cause as it is impacting everyone living in this Capital city of the world’s fifth largest economy, restricting the people from being more productive and contributing towards the enhancement of this growing economy.
It is time we rise to the occasion and align ourselves with nature. Let us move with a sense of purpose and spring into action before it is too late by eliminating / reducing the amount and toxicity of potentially harmful substances at their source. Prevention is better and easier than controlling the generated waste. Let us not meekly surrender but make it a social mass movement.
If the authorities could find suitable use for utilizing this prali and buy back some prali or could give some incentive to farmers for not burning prali and publicize its harmful effects especially to the generators, then we can have a headway in this direction. We have many rules and regulations in place and their proper implementation should be ensured strictly. We all are wise enough to understand how to control this menace and let us all take stern action against the defaulters in whatever legal way we can and face this burning issue strongly with confidence. We all should pledge to do our part with responsibility and then surely, we will be living in our desired world. Hum Honge kaamyaab bahut jaldi, mann main hain vishwas, poora hain vishwas.
