Development and progress has
enabled faster rate of growth of the urbanization and this urbanization is lead
to over consumption of natural resources. The wasteful use or by products of
the consumption of the natural resources is pollution.
Causes of Pollution
There are different causes of
pollution, prominently they are related to the consumption of natural resources
like burning of coal, petroleum products, cutting of trees etc. In metro cities
like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and other the main cause of pollution is the
increase in the number of vehicles. The increase in per capita income and
growth of new generation richer class which show off their status through use
of the private vehicles. In Delhi, there are many posh areas and you will find
that no house owner is without a private vehicle. Many of them have multiple
vehicles.
In spite of the fact that Delhi
has much better public transport services when compared to other cities, the
increase in the number of vehicles in high. Each year number of vehicles is
increasing which in turn is increasing pollution.
Lack of Enforcement Agencies
There is severe lack of
enforcement agencies for pollution control. The pollution check is often
misused through by the vendor who make false certificate on taking bribe or
unreasonable money. There is lack of differential rate of taxation on the
private vehicles which is enforced in many developed countries like America,
Hong Kong and others. The promotion of the use of the public transport will
never be a success unless there is curb on the purchase and possession of
private vehicles. Government should impose heavy taxation and duty on the
private vehicle owners and this money can be used in the extension and
development of the public transport for the good of the nation and public as a
whole.
Unchecked Pace of Real Estate Development
There should be proper mechanism
to check the growth of the real estate which is one of the largest contributor
of the pollution in urban areas. The construction work substantially increased
the amount of the suspended particles and makes the air unbreathable. If one
goes to the NOIDA then it is common to find wind of dust and suffocation in the
air due to very high amount of the suspended particles in air. Many of the
flats are made and sold for profit and very few of them may be occupied. The
inflated demand of the housing by real estate developers is common to notice in
many developing cities and sub-urban areas of the metropolitan cities.
Lack of Civic Sense in Public
Lack of civic sense for
maintaining and keeping clean environment and surroundings is common in Indian
masses. Most of the rich people keep their home clean but colony is not kept
clean. The lack of sense of the ownership of the public spaces among masses make
is difficult for civic authorities to maintain clean and healthy environment.
The Delhi Development Authority can be credited to have maintained a greener
Delhi than public want it to be. The politics of the development is common in
India and it is well evident in Delhi. In Master Plan of Delhi, Zone O i.e.
river bed of Yamuna is kept aloof of any development work but in the name of
Common Wealth Games, a large area of the Yamuna riverbed was developed for
residential purpose and now there is proposal for opening Green Belt i.e. periphery
of Delhi open for development.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The state of the affairs of the
urban development is not untouched by politics and the pollution will keep on
increasing day by day. The over populated metropolitan city like Delhi is
facing numerous problems at same time. Depletion of groundwater, pollution of
groundwater and polluted river, decreasing flora and fauna etc.
There should be immediate policy
measures to enforce pollution control measures like ban on new vehicles till
2020 etc. Heavy tax on private vehicles. Management of public spaces and
colonies by public and civic authorities.
There should be regulation on the
rate of the real estate development taking place in cities and urban areas.