The State government is trying to impress the common citizen that they are taking the right initiatives to bring down pollution. Having done enough damage to the environment already, the moratorium sounds like an “eight month family planning” programme to control the population growth.
If only the mighty rulers of our state of the past had heeded to the wisdom and advise of our former Union Minister Late T A Pai, who insisted that chemical and processing industries should not be allowed in the coastal belt to protect our sea and the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats! He had pleaded the State to establish heavy mechanical industries like HMT, BHEL, BEL, HAL etc which are environment friendly.
The MCC must give priority to develop the existing parks and additional green belts in the periphery of Mangalore city, and make water harvesting mandatory. Severe penalty should be imposed in autorickshaws that run on a mixture of diesel and kerosene. The RTO also must be very prudent and cautious in issuing fresh transport permits, since we have already reached the saturation point. We can see some positive results if the rules are enforced without fear and favour and the moratorium extended to another 5 years. But, Who will enforce?
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