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Important To Implement Environmental Rules To Sustain Gains Of Lockdown: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar

Important To Implement Environmental Rules To Sustain Gains Of Lockdown: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar

Highlights

  1. Significant improvement in air and water quality due to lockdown: Reports
  2. Need to create environmental awareness among people: Environment Minister
  3. Implement rules, monitor and try to sustain gains: Environment Minister
New Delhi: 

To sustain the environmental "gains" of the coronavirus lockdown during normal times, it is important that the states and the union territories should strictly implement relevant rules governing pollution, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said. Due to the unforeseen situation arising out of COVID-19, there has been a significant reduction in industrial activity, vehicular movement and construction activities due to which air and water quality have improved, he said in a letter to the states and the UTs, urging them to strive for this benchmark in normal times too. 

As normal life will resume, it would become more and more challenging to sustain current environmental gains but we have a chance to prove that we can have a much-improved environment even during normal activities. This is a challenge which will have to be met by state authorities by strict enforcement of environmental norms and rules and regulations governing pollution. We must look at the quantum improvement in things like waste management, industrial discharge, river quality and emission levels, Mr Javadekar said. 

He said various reports have pointed out that there has been a significant improvement in the air and the water quality besides the reduction in noise pollution during the lockdown. 

This is the benchmark that we need to strive for even in the normal times with the majority of our activities going on, the minister said in the letter. 

He said there was a need for creating more environmental awareness among the people who can appreciate a qualitative change in environmental health through better lifestyle management. 

I look forward to working with you to drive the idea of sustaining development in conjunction with the conservation of the environment, based on the foundation of sustainable lifestyle management rooted in Indian philosophy of living in harmony with nature. I request you to ask all concerned departments to implement all the relevant rules, monitor them and try to sustain the gains, he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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About The Campaign

About The Campaign

Since the lockdown began, nature has been given a rest and it has never looked more beautiful.

Our air is cleaner than it has been for years, our skies are blue and clear. We need to maintain this change. 

NDTV and Hero Cycles have joined hands and initiated a campaign #TheCycleOfChange with a motive to keep these environmental gains from slipping away once the lockdown is lifted.

The campaign aims to provide a platform to discuss life after lockdown, as the lockdown may lift, but the virus will stay with each one of us for a long time. So, how do we best work with our lockdown habits, which are becoming the new normal?

How do we keep these environmental gains from slipping away completely?