Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said the increasing number of vehicles in Bengaluru has a direct bearing on the health of the people as more people are dying due to lung diseases, urging more people to use public transport.
He was speaking after the inauguration of the India Clean Air Summit organised by the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP). “The transport commissioner told me that 5,000 new vehicles are added to Bengaluru’s roads every day with the vehicles outnumbering the people in the city. Put yourself in the shoes of the government and see the problems and their perspective. There are so many ways citizens can contribute,” he said.
The minister said in a situation where each member of a family is driving a vehicle and not taking public transport system, congestion on the road was a natural result. He batted for a concerted effort from the government, NGOs and youngsters to bring about positive change and end the ‘silent deaths’ caused by pollution.
T Sumathy, poet and MP from Tamil Nadu, said there was a need to disseminate information to the public as lack of information leads to complacency. “We need to monitor air quality in more places and provide that information to create awareness. We are working with reputed institutions such as IIT Madras to come up with low-cost AQI monitoring devices so that more data can be generated to sensitise people about the changes occurring in their life,” she said.
Country Head and Senior Vice President of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vikram Gulaty noted that the petrol and diesel cars sold today will be on the roads for 15 years. “So, if we get to 30% EV by 2030, it’s no good. The consumption of fossil fuels is going to double if we do not act today,” he said.
Music composer Ricky Kej spoke about the discrimination against the third world by corporate companies. “A study presented in a conference in Geneva showed how companies, which follow all regulations in their home countries, operate with different rules in the third world. That’s a dangerous phenomenon,” he said.