A solution for City s pollution

A solution for City s pollution
More Transport Dept staff required
POPULA TION V/S VEHICLE STRENGTH IN BANGALORE CITY
Vijay Times

972 cases booked for air pollution, 1,266 cases booked for noise pollution and 368 cases booked for visible smoke. T otted up by the T ransport Department’s Special Checking Squads in the City over a period of just 14 days, these statistics hold alarming implications for the health and well-being of Bangaloreans.

And from the T ransport Department’s perspective, this scenario is not likely to improve unless the department’s staffing problems are addressed. "In order to deal with pollutionrelated problems, upgradation of staff is of utmost importance so that enforcement can be more effective," said Om Prakash, T ransport Commissioner .

Elaborating, he said the department presently works only with squads, but it would be best if there was a regular staff to do this job 24 hours, seven days a week on a shift basis. "The department’s manpower has not been upgraded for the past 20 years, whereas the number of vehicles and even the revenue generated by the department has increased by leaps and bounds," he added. As an example, he said while Rs 116 crore was the revenue collected in 1990-91 from 14.33 lakh vehicles in Karnataka, in 2004-05 it had increased to Rs 939 crore from 54.35 lakh vehicles. Moreover , the area of Bangalore City and its population had increased substantially over the years.

Detailing the department’s manpower needs, he said, "I have made a proposal for 1,200 T ransport Guards -- the equivalent of police constables -- in Karnataka. Of these, 40 per cent are required only for Bangalore." On the reason for this proposal, he said these personnel were required since otherwise the Inspectors face a lot of difficulty as they have to hire private help.

He said additional manpower was required for duties like assisting the inspectors in the issue of learner’s and regular licenses, round-the-clock patrolling on important national highways, the Road Safety Brigade and the Green Brigade for pollution control functions.

Prakash felt an increase in manpower may well result in a decrease in the number of violations, which in turn would ensure a safer , less polluted e n v i r o n m e n t for Bangaloreans.

Area in sq km Population (in lakh) No. of 1991 445.91 41.30 2001 531.00 56.86 2005 1,279 70.0 as of March end