Clear the air

Clear the air

Civic pride is an excellent thing but some governments go to ridiculous lengths to display it. When major international events were staged in Beijing, the Chinese needed to impress the world by keeping down air pollution levels. So, industries were ordered to close and hordes of people were sent out of the city for a fortnight. That is hardly a model for Maharashtra. But the Vilasrao Deshmukh government, also wanting to impress the world and worrying about poor visibility during the International Fleet Review in Mumbai this week, is following as closely as it can in Beijing's footsteps. The Chinese communist party issues diktats. The Maharashtra government declares holidays. Four holidays subsequently pared to two have been announced. Even that is two too many. Business and industry do not want to lose more manhours. Government offices enjoy too much official and unofficial time off anyway.

There are far too many public holidays already, new religious or commemorative ones are being added to the list and monsoon flooding regularly forces Mumbai to take extra days off. It is irresponsible on top of all to shut down the city for more days in the hope of cleaning the air temporarily. As important as the International Fleet Review is for the Indian Navy and for Mumbai, it does not justify the losses the state and national economies will incur because of gratuitous holidays. A single day's closure of business and industry amounts to losses running to hundreds of crores of rupees. Maharashtra's finances are not exactly in the pink of health and it cannot afford it. The country cannot afford it either and certainly not when coping with its worst ever natural disaster and the continuing proxy war in the north. Fault must be found with the underlying attitude which is feudal rather than businesslike. Mumbai is not Deshmukh's jagir to switch on or off at whim. Consultation with business and industry wellin advance of the event was necessary. At the very least it would have prevented the unwanted largesse. The government is doing its best to destroy the work ethic which distinguished Mumbai from Delhi where offices close for hours during Republic Day rehearsals.

The whole scheme of dealing with air pollution during the Review betrays lopsided priorities. As Governor P.C. Alexander's appeals to people not to bring their vehicles into the city for four days emphasise, Mumbai is losing its battle against air pollution, a battle the authorities have never seriously waged. Had the government shown determination about implementing measures to reduce vehicular traffic -- the major cause of air pollution in Mumbai -- and industrial emissions, it would not have faced its present predicament. Why is it worth bringing down pollution for the duration of an international event but not worth it the rest of the time? Clean air is essential for people; Mumbai's image should be a secondary consideration. If the government were to show as much concern about the air people breath every day as it does about visibility during the Review, this city would be a better place to live in.