Survey shows Indore ahead in awareness concerning environment

The Times of India , Sunday, June 08, 2014
Correspondent : Rageshri Ganguly
BHOPAL: Surprising though it may appear, it is environment over development for Indoreans. The commercial capital of the state is much more environment conscious and ahead of Delhi where only 50% of citizens would like the government to prioritize environmental protection over its development objectives.

Ahead of World Environment Day on June 5, a survey conducted by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) revealed that 65% of Indoreans put environment before development. Besides, 90% were in favour of banning polythene bags.

TERI, an independent research institute, had conducted the survey on overall environment, water and waste management through interviews of 11,214 respondents across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kanpur, Indore, Jamshedpur, Guwahati and Coimbatore between December 2013 and February 2014. Of this, 1,244 Indoreans were surveyed.

On the issue of trade-offs between environment and development, majority of respondents either felt that the two went hand in hand like in Coimbatore and Guwahati or that the environment should be prioritized over development like in Mumbai (44%), Delhi, and Kanpur (45%). However, a higher percentage in Pune (37%) and Jamshedpur (42%) felt that development should be prioritized over the environment.

More than 50% of Indoreans felt that air quality (51%), drinking water quality (48%), and groundwater availability (38%) had worsened in the last five years. In contrast, a considerable section of the respondents felt that green cover (35%), surface water quality and availability (43%), and drinking water availability (56%) had improved over the same span of time. 65% attributed a variety of respiratory diseases to poor environmental quality.

Fewer women (26%) and (53%) perceived an improvement in drinking water quality and availability, respectively as compared to 33% and 57% of men.

Besides, 80% and 69% of the citizens felt that temperature and rainfall had increased, respectively and 87% of the respondents felt that climate change and global warming was occurring.

Around one-third of Indoreans felt that policies pertaining to air pollution (32%), water pollution (36%), water supply (32%), water conservation (41%), and waste management (31%) existed and were well implemented. However, as high as 55% and 45% citizens of Indore felt that there were no policies for climate change and groundwater usage, respectively. One-fourth felt policies concerning forest conservation were either inadequate or not implemented.

Leakage of water during distribution was identified as the primary cause of wastage of water by 61% Indoreans followed by leakages from taps/faucets in homes (19%). Over 90% of the respondents were aware of the subsidized price of water, and 92% were of the opinion that users should be charged actual cost of water.

Half of those surveyed conveyed the best strategy to manage the problem of solid waste was to improve waste recycling capacity followed by generating less waste at household level (27%) while 45% felt that mandatory laws pertaining to recycling can greatly promote re-use.

Only 58% of the survey respondents expressed willingness to segregate waste before disposal. People were aware of the problem of e-waste. Very few respondents said they threw e-waste along with the household garbage.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Survey-shows-Indore-ahead-in-awareness-concerning-environment/articleshow/36203308.cms
 


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