Environment degradation

It is outlandish that environment management has not found proper place in the planning of the State. Air and noise are two main pollutants responsible for degradation of environment. Both are essentially caused by vehicular traffic. And vehicular traffic in the State and particularly in two capital cities is horrible by any standards. Incredible increase in the number of vehicles, small and big, plying on the roads has led to grave environmental problems. Vehicular emission causes pollution as a deadly mix of methane and carbon monoxide is emitted in profusion by the vehicles which are not controlled by the universal mechanism of controlling pollution. The report of the Committee on Environment of Legislative Assembly headed by CPM MLA Tarigami has found many loopholes in the system of protecting environment in the State despite the fact that J&K stands declared as Air Pollution Control Zone under Section 19 of the Air Prevention and Control Act 1981.
Committee’s findings are startling in a sense as these reveal total absence of coordination among the agencies responsible to contribute to the cleanliness of environment. Each responsible agency blatantly tries to pass the buck and exonerate itself of failure to perform efficiently. When nothing works, the agencies jump to the argument that the Government has not provided adequate manpower and necessary equipment that would facilitate effective control of pollution. For example, deadly vehicular emission is caused by two possibilities. These are adulterated fuel and absence of upgraded modern technical device to check the level of pollution. Normally it is the traffic department that should look to these shortfalls but it passes the buck to the Oil Companies saying that according to a court verdict it is the responsibility of Oil Companies to ensure that there is no adulteration of petrol with kerosene oil. The Oil Companies assert that on their level they have ensured non-adulteration, but how and wherefrom actually adulteration is made is the job of the police and the traffic police to find out. However, the Committee asserts that the checking system is far from being satisfactory. Actually it is the CAPD department which has to deal with the control of fuel adulteration. It absolves itself of the responsibility by saying that proper and modern equipment of checking pollution is not provided. The report also says that although there are about 79 centres for checking the exhaust emission, yet it has not purchased gas analysers for petrol driven vehicles besides smoke meters. The emission from trucks and other commercial vehicles is far more dangerous.
Likewise much less attention is paid to noise pollution for which again the vehicular traffic is responsible. There is total chaos on this count. If checking of vehicular emissions is to be taken as joint responsibility of more than one department, the question of noise pollution is exclusively the realm of traffic police and it cannot put forth any lame excuse for not performing in this field. Ear piercing music is played by the drivers of mini buses plying on the roads of the cities and towns. On the insistence of the passengers to stop the noise, the drivers and conductors become furious and uncouth and pay no heed to these pleas. Obscene pictures of females in semi nudity are displayed inside the mini buses and the policemen remain unconcerned. This leads to moral degradation especially knowing that a large number of passengers are women and these displays are highly immoral and objectionable. We have a formidable department of traffic police. But all this big force with a grandiose superstructure cannot control noise pollution.
The report of the committee is a censure on the functioning of some of the concerned departments. It reflects the intention of the Committee to bring to the notice of the concerned agencies the shortfalls in good governance and how these could be met. While lamenting that environmental pollution will be a disaster for the people of the State if proper steps are not taken now to control it, the Committee has made some suggestions of improving the situation. Constituting a Coordination Committee seems to be on the priority list of suggestions of the Committee. Its mandate would be to bring the entire question of environmental pollution under one umbrella which should be accountable for all aspects.

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