Kolkata: Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim on Wednesday urged students to take a proactive role in safeguarding the environment and to raise their voices against activities that harm it. He called for a “mass movement” to spread awareness and curb pollution.
“We need mass awareness to fight pollution. Our generation regrets not having done enough for a clean environment. It is your responsibility to launch a movement for environmental awareness so that you do not have to make the same mistake with your next generation.Be proactive and spread the message about the necessity of preventing pollution,” Hakim said while addressing a workshop at Town Hall to mark International Clean Air and Blue Sky Day.
The Mayor asked school students, who along with their teachers were the key participants at the programme, to adopt and nurture one tree each till it matures. He also urged them to report to the civic body if they notice construction without protective screening.
“You should protest if you see buses or other vehicles emitting black smoke,” he added. Hakim said the state government is promoting battery-operated and CNG vehicles, while Miyawaki forests have already been created at Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarovar. “There has been a conscious attempt to increase green cover across the state, including in Kolkata,” he noted.
Prof. Abhijit Chatterjee of the Bose Institute’s department of Chemical Sciences highlighted that a recent study found pollution from solid fuel and biomass burning in Kolkata has now exceeded that from vehicular emissions.
Environment experts Swati Nandi Chakraborty, Dipanjali Majumdar and Punarbasu Chaudhuri also spoke at the seminar.