Dehradun: A one-day environmental conservation and awareness campaign named “Road Transport Improvement and Environmental Conservation” under the major programme “Our Environment, Our Development” was organized at Behel Chowk, Rajpur Road, Dehradun by Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), a Doon based NGO with the support of Sharon Bio-Medicine Ltd., Dehradun. Padma Avdhash Kaushal, Chairperson Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, Project Coordinator Sonali Sharma along with a team of young enthusiasts witnessed the start of the campaign. The show put up by the volunteers engaged the traffic police as well as the locals travelling by vehicles. As part of a unique initiative “Hamara Paryavaran, Hamara Vikas”, the campaign gave many important lessons to the vehicle owners.
The volunteers asked the travelers at the red light stop to turn off their vehicular engine to save fuel and reduce air pollution. The pamphlets distributed by the volunteers educated the people about the need to set up an effective road transport management system. The main reasons being traffic congestion, more carbon emissions, fuel consumption, and time wastage. The team of RLEK informed the people about better alternatives in order to cut down the rising air pollution. This included cycling, electric car, and walking. One of the traffic policemen Mohammad Ikram said “Traffic congestion has increased in the city and even we are looking for better ways to manage traffic.
We have been seeing a sharp rise in temperature and pollution over the years.” Uttarakhand home guard Lakhan Singh also thanked the team for their efforts and concern towards environment. Amankshi, a key volunteer said “I was encouraged by a few locals to continue the good cause. They appreciated this innovative campaign.” Avdhesh Sharma, one of the employees at RLEK interacted with people. He said “I interacted with a few vehicle owners who refused to turn off their engine at the red light because of their outdated vehicles.
Some even complained that due to very high traffic rush in the city, it is difficult to ride a bicycle.” Such kind of inputs from the people helped the team to acquire knowledge about the poor transport management in Dehradun. Padma Avdhash Kaushal said “The NGO wishes to request the Government to completely stop poorly maintained vehicles from running on city roads. They are prime reasons for high fuel consumption and polluted air.” It is to be noted that climate change has become a major challenge for the city dwellers. In such a scenario, the organization believes that their endeavor to fight the climate change will surely reach the people and make them think about this sensitive issue. RLEK ensures to run many such environmentally friendly activities in the upcoming days which includes a tree plantation drive, dustbin installation in police chowkis, formation of eco-clubs in schools, to name a few.
