"How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man
The answer my friend is blowin in the wind"
Bob Dylan
When Dylan wrote this song to inspire us, little did he know that there will be much more than answers blowing in the winds of urban India.
Let us take the example of Bangalore
42 % of urban air pollution is caused by vehicular traffic and almost 30 % by dust.
Today Bangalore is one of the most polluted cities in India and there seems to be no plan to do anything about it.
In Manpower terms Bangalore last year lost 12 Disability adjusted life years per 1000 residents.
In economic terms we lost almost 9% of the per capita GDP for the city that is mostly due to absenteeism due to health disorders. Also we spent almost 500 Million dollars in treatment for health issues.
(Vehicular pollution Bangalore: Source Home video)
Bangalore adds about a 400000 vehicles every year. And there is no mechanism to check vehicular pollution in the city. 700 Bangaloreans will die due to Lung Congestion, Cardio-Vascular diseases and allergy due to poor air quality.
Its not that government has done anything to control the situation. It has mandated RTO officers, Introduced Bus Days and Assigned Traffic police to watch for pollution. But clearly not enough.
So what can we do to improve the situation. I suggest these five steps that all of us can to to improve the situation.
- Use public transport at least once a week. Vehicular pollution goes down by as much as 10% on every Bus Day announced by the government. Imagine the impact if it is done every week.
- Work from home. If your official HR policy allows you to work from home, please make use of the provisions at least a couple of times in a week. Again this would lower the overall emission
- Fix as many virtual meetings as possible to avoid traveling around the city to different locations through the day.
- Please get the vehicular emission check for your vehicle done every quarter. This can be coupled with the card servicing.
- Please walk for shorter distances, not only will it improve your health, but will also bring down the pollution.
In the end the business growth of Bangalore and other cities in India would depend on its citizens and a unhealthy citizen will not add value to the economy in the long run.
Bangalore has certainly grown exponentially. I moved to bangalore in 2003 and it changed hell lot by the time I left. I wish people stop reproducing and polluting for a decade or so.... :D illogical, but what's wrong in being a hopelessly optimist.
ReplyDeleteyes I agree Bangalore has really gone downhill in the last five years. Despite being a technology city there is hardly any focus on getting some predictive modelling done while building infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the 5 points you mentioned. We are responsible for the unhealthy state of your cities. I wish people follow some of your tips. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Saru, I hope some people follow them as well as this would lead to a lot of improvement.
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