Pollution

Pollution is a very serious problem in our country. All our important cities such as Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras have been found to be the most polluted cities in India. The smaller industrial towns, such as Kanpur, are also heavily polluted leading to severe health problems. Two major areas of pollution are air and water. Those living in the cities get neither pure air to breathe nor pure water to drink. It is therefore not surprising that major health problems occur in the cities. In order to rectify this situation, it is important to identify the sources of pollution.

The major source of air pollution in the cities is the heavy traffic on the roads. The buses, cars, motorcycles, and other such vehicles emit carbon monoxide which invades our lungs. Often these vehicles are not properly maintained so that dense black smoke is emitted. In fact, sometimes it becomes difficult to breathe because one can feel the heavy air that one is inhaling. Another source of air pollution is the smoke from factories, especially in industrial areas. Once again, highly toxic fumes are emitted into the atmosphere and make the miserable for those around.

One important reason that the environment remains polluted is the absence of plants and trees. Cutting down of trees everywhere and construction of buildings instead, has created a major problem for trees breathe in carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere so that the atmosphere is automatically purified. However, blind deforestation everywhere has resulted in very few patches of green in the cities and consequently, we suffer the ill effects of atmospheric pollution.

To check the pollution, we should control population growth first. Natural sources should be redeveloped. The factories should adopt pollution control measures. The vehicles too should have got their machinery checked occasionally so that they may not give out much smoke. Deforestation should be totally stopped. All these measures will help mankind to fight pollution.