The members of Gurgaon Citizen Council (GCC) on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanding some urgent measures to reduce the impact of pollution in the city.
The members also gave some suggestions to meet the challenges which includes immediate introduction of odd-even road-rationing scheme for restricting the movement of vehicles on major roads in order to reduce vehicular pollution on the lines of Delhi government.
They demanded to declare some congested areas near bus stand as ‘No Traffic Zone’ and total halting of construction activities for next 10 days. They also demanded sweeping of roads to be done by sprinkling of unpaved areas and strict action against the burning of stubble.
In their letter, they pointed out the pollution level in the city which is in severe category for the last 10 days and air quality index (AQI) has been fluctuating between 450 to 495 in almost all the cities of the state including Gurugram.
AQI is considered severe when its value lies between 401 to 500. 500 is the critical value and the situation is deemed hazardous once the critical limit of 500 is crossed. Inhalation of air of such poor quality affects all the vital part of human body such as lungs, heart, kidneys and brain. “Children and senior citizens are most vulnerable to the devastating effects,” they said.
RS Rathee, President of GCC said, “Like other cities of Haryana, Gurugram too has become a gas chamber this year. Last year, the city was declared as the most polluted city of the world. But what is most distressing and disheartening is the fact that government has become totally insensitive to this most sensitive issue.”
“The CM has not uttered even a single word on this all encompassing health problem of the state. The Chief Secretary has not even called a meeting of Deputy Commissioners to take advance preventive measures. Only now, DC Panipat and DC Faridabad have started taking some superficial measures to curb the pollution and that too at the directions of EPCA,” he said.
The residents are also appalled with the MCG, GMDA and District Administration of Gurugram for their conspicuous silence on this grave issue. “As if nothing has happened and all goes well in Gurugram. We are disturbed by the total insensitive attitude of the District Authorities and demanding immediate step to bring some relief to the people of this city,” said Abhey Poonia, Vice President GCC.
