Pune youths vouch for safe roads and clean air

On the occasion of 152th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, city youths came together to observe Pedestrian day across 8 major junctions in Pune.

Taking inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi march, youths wanted to encourage Pedestrians in Pune to join a movement make our Pune a road accident-free city. This year’s Pedestrian Day theme is *Clean Air*.

Pune has more vehicles than people. Vehicular emission is one of the major contributors to the air pollution within cities. Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, experts corelate the high pollution levels with low immunity levels. Almost 80% of deaths related to PM2.5 could be avoided in the world if the current air pollution levels were reduced to those proposed in the updated guideline by WHO.

“Simple things like keeping right pressure in tyres and dropping your speed can help save fuel and reduce emission,” said Devendra Jani, Founder of Bee – The Lead who headed this project.

One idea to reduce pollution is to create ‘no idling’ zones where engines can be switched off if you’re going to be parked for a while. A ‘no idling’ zone would be in areas where pollution is bad or where people are at higher risk, like outside of a primary school or Hospitals. Small changes to your driving habits can make a big difference like getting your vehicles serviced regularly, avoiding short journeys, Vehicle pool more often, replacing old vehicles with energy efficient ones and using Public transport.Posters about Road safety and Clean Air were displayed. Citizens were given a Salute as appreciation for wearing a helmet and seat belt.

“Many citizens were delighted and smiled back when volunteers gave them a salute. Some of them stopped speaking on the phone when they read our poster to avoid phones while driving,” said Ishwar Aappan, project manager at Philants NGO.

Volunteers also did a signature campaign asking citizens to not drive on footpath. 91 citizens pledged to use footpaths instead of walking on roads. Many NGOs led by youths joined hands to manage different junctions. Swachh Pune Swachh Bharat team at Magarpatta and Amanora junction, gave salutes to people who wore helmets and motivated them to keep this good habit alive.

Change makers from Philants NGO managed JM and FC road, Tara foundation at Anand Nagar Swargate junction, WORK Foundation at NIBM junction and Kedari Junction and Swachh Kalyani Citizens Group at Kalyani nagar junction came together to send a clear message to keep the roads safe for pedestrians.

“Along with the great response from citizens, we have also got complete support from authorities. Pune Traffic Police Department was actively involved at all the junctions and supported the campaign without any delay,” said Awais Awes from WORK foundation.