Rising air and noise pollution : All related to polluted minds
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 17 2018 -

Very often all overlook the fact that the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil we till are our natural resources and the result of such a myopic outlook is there for all to see in the sluggish water that flows in what remains our rivers, the air we breathe and the soil we dig to plant our food.

The report that air and noise pollution has crossed permissible limits in Imphal should therefore not come as a surprise.

The only thing lacking is the absence of constant monitoring of the environment and true to the observation that ignorance is bliss, everyone preferred to live under the notion that air and noise pollution is something which is associated only with the metro cities of the country where the roads are choc-a-bloc with motor vehicles.

This today no longer stands and Imphal, a town and not a mega city by any definition, is today a living example of a place which has all the ills associated with metro cities minus the fringe benefits that living in a city brings.

When it rains it is all about slush and mud or to put in the local language, when it rains it is all about leikhom leinang and when it does not it is all about uphul waiphul.

This being the dry season, it is all about dust and more dust and hence the report that air pollution has crossed permissible limits did not come as such a big surprise.

Adding to the dust is obviously the vehicles, and as the report said, particularly diesel auto rickshaws.

A more than enough indication that not enough mechanism has been put in place to monitor and check the exhaust fumes from the vehicles plying the roads of Imphal and other parts of the State.

Noise pollution is another irritant which the people of the State have had to live with for years now.

No one understands or care to understand what silent or no horn zone is all about. In short it is a free for all.

Commercial vehicles with their gas horns, which emit an ear piercing sound too, do not hesitate to blow their horn away to glory, no matter how irritating it could be to others.

In short all glaring examples of how insensitive we are as a people.

What makes things all that more unpalatable is the fact that the number of vehicles in the State cannot be said to be unmanageable and what is needed is a degree of civic sense, the sense that says that owning a vehicle and driving it around should not cause nuisance to others.

On the other hand it also stands that much of the pollution in Imphal come from the mindless trend of dumping wastes and filth on public places.

Unregulated vehicles with no sense of public propriety, such as not disturbing the peace with mindless blowing of the horns, the failure to keep a check on the exhaust of one’s vehicles and lack of civic sense amongst the people are all responsible for the rising air and noise pollution in Imphal and the adjoining areas.

A case of polluted minds polluting the environment and Imphal fits this description to the T.