JAIPUR: For long, tourists have visited Thar Desert to breathe in clear air and glimpse of clear skies. Starry desert skies have always been attractions for tourists who camp on sands during night, travel in camel caravans. Ever since the first windmills came up in Jaisalmer 15 years ago, number of tourists setting out on camel safaris has fallen. Not only do the windmills destroy the visual appeal of desert landscape, but also emit light throughout the night, distracting tourists from the view of stars. There is a now a new tourist repellent — air pollution. Large mounds of plastic leftover from the packaging of windmill parts are being burnt close to the Khaba-Kanoi villages that border Desert National Park.
Virender Singh, who runs a tourist resort near the National Park, told TOI, "I asked my staff to check, thinking that perhaps a house had caught fire somewhere. When the boys when to check, they found that large mounds of plastic were being set on fire. The smell it emits is rather strange, and there is cause to think that this is special material that has a high chemical content. The leftover ash will find its way into the soil and destroy the environment. The air is being terribly polluted now. This is happening at a prime location for the camel caravans. The Khaba Fort nearby is considered a major tourist attraction. How can the administration allow these private firms that set up windmills to destroy a tourist area like this?"
International NGO Greenpeace, in a recent report, Airpocalypse, showed that it was not just national capital New Delhi that had toxic air - almost all North Indian cities, the report said, had dangerously polluted air. None of these cities have air quality that meets standards of safety set by World Health Organization. In UP's Ghaziabad, for instance, the level of PM10 (particulate matter of less than 10 micrometres in diameter suspended in air) is 400% higher than the standard recognized as safe, the report said.
Even a large number of domestic tourists have long been struck by the difference in the air quality, once one travels from a major North Indian city to the desert. But is this set to change?
Collector Matadeen Sharma said, "I have no information yet about the pollution caused by the burning of plastic waste."
