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Inside Delhi

Mercury alarm

Contributing their bit to making the environment healthy, doctors in the Capital are educating themselves on the ill effects of mercury on human beings and the environment.

At a seminar organised to commemorate World Earth Day over the weekend, top physicians and environmentalists spoke about the need to ban mercury thermometers and mercury-based blood pressure instruments.

Doctors pointed out that two thermometers are broken every year for one bed in a hospital and thus on an average for 40,000 beds in Delhi alone, 80,000 thermometers are broken and so much mercury released into the environment.

"The other sources are mercury-based blood pressure instruments and mercury dental fillings. Mercury is toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption with acute and chronic exposure effects including central nervous system and kidney damage. Acute exposure includes nausea, blurred vision, painful breathing and excessive salivation while chronic or longer-term exposure includes memory disturbance, hypertension, vision problems, hallucinations, tremors and personality changes," said Dr. K. K. Aggarwal, president of the Heart Care Foundation of India.

T. K. Joshi from the Delhi Government's Department of Environment added: "The two properties that make mercury extremely unmanageable are bio-accumulation and bio-magnification. Because mercury can cross the blood-brain barrier, and because it can affect brain development, its effects are of special concern to pregnant or lactating women and young children. The most common exposure routes involve food.''

The doctors demanded a more responsible approach to use and disposal of mercury in the Capital.

- Bindu Shajan Perappadan

A unique interface

A number of children from far-flung villages across the country are nowadays having an interface with their counterparts from some of the Capital's best schools.

The four-day event titled "Pratibimb", which started at Gandhi Darshan over the weekend, is being organised by Goonj, a Delhi-based voluntary group.

Coming all the way from Kashmir, Assam, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the children aged between eight and 15 years are beneficiaries of Goonj's award-winning "School to School" S2S programme that aims to forge a long-term strategic relationship between the rich urban schools and resource-starved rural schools.

S2S channels under-utilised material like old uniforms, water bottles and stationary material lying idle with urban children to their rural counterparts for whom it plays a critical role in continuing their education.

Children from many prestigious Delhi schools like Modern, Apeejay, Ryan International, St. Mary's, Rosary and Cambridge are sharing their experiences and perceptions about schooling with their rural counterparts. This one-on-one interaction is helping students from both urban and rural areas to forge a unique bond. Stepping out of their villages for the first time, most rural kids are coming from different backgrounds. Besides those from the strife-torn Kashmir, child workers from glass factories of Firozabad in U.P. and several from the most backward communities in Bihar and Kalahandi are also participating in the event.

- Madhur Tankha

No change

Some things just don't change. The pre-paid auto-rickshaw service at the Capital's railway stations seems to be one such thing. Despite several attempts to streamline the service for the convenience of people coming to Delhi by train and looking for a public conveyance to go home, there is always something or the other that is not in place.

On Monday morning, a friend got down at New Delhi station and went to the pre-paid booth at the Paharganj terminal. Well versed with the manner in which auto-rickshaw drivers trap passengers, the friend went straight to the booth. After getting the travel receipt, he was asked to go to the exit where a traffic policeman would help him get into an auto-rickshaw.

At the exit, he did not spot anyone. So he returned to the lane where auto-rickshaws are parked. He went up and down the lane hoping to find an auto-rickshaw that would take him to his destination, but in vain.

One of them then advised him: "Go to the exit gate... there is a traffic police constable and the zonal officer himself."

The friend ventured out once again. With some assistance from a home guard, he managed to spot a lone, elderly traffic policeman. He showed him the slip and the police personnel stopped an auto-rickshaw coming from the Paharganj side for the friend to board.

Meanwhile, many auto-rickshaws that had been parked in the lane within the station premises went past the gate with passengers. And during those 20-odd minutes, there was not a single traffic policeman present at the pre-paid booth to ensure that passengers were not harassed.

-- Prashant Pandey

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