Kochi: Actor Mohanlal expressed his concern and anguish over the prolonged air pollution brought about by the fire at the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram.
In a letter, the actor said, "It is scary that people including the aged, children and patients have to live inhaling the toxic smoke. We may have to suffer the effect of this smoke that gets inhaled into our lungs for a lifetime. The fact that it is not a natural disaster or a climate change issue, but a disaster created by man, is sad."
It is really painful that for the past many days that many mothers including my own have been inhaling toxic smoke, he remarked on the plight of the vulnerable population.
"I am in Pokhran in Rajasthan for a shooting. Many told me I was lucky to escape. Nobody is going to settle down elsewhere. And, hence there is no escape for those who have left home for the time being. This awaits them all, if not today, tomorrow," he noted, while urging for lasting solutions.
He also reminded public about the futility of blame-game and endless debates and arguments to find who is responsible for this lapse.
The urgent solution to the problem is not discussed at all. Will there be any other city which handles waste worse than Kochi? Five years ago, I had written in a post and expressed my concern that waste management may be a problem that may get out of our hands. That letter was also given to the Chief Minister, said the actor.
If there is a good system to manage waste people will automatically follow that system, he opined. "I had participated in five meetings to discuss on waste management at Thiruvananthapuram. I said I won’t attend any more meetings on this when what was being discussed continued to be the same. Nothing is going to happen with discussions; there should be action," the popular actor added.
