Environment Day eludes environment awareness

Patna, Jun 5 (UNI) The essence of 'Environment Awareness' as propagated by the United Nations on the occasion of the World Environment Day, observed on June 5 every year, seems to be turning into a transcendent failure in this ancient city.

Patna witnessed a change in its topography with the Ganges river bed shifting a few kms away from the township area.

The Ganges that runs through the heart of the city has become polluted as suitable arrangements have not been made to treat the sewage water before discharging it into the river. Besides, the forest cover of the Gangetic belt has depleted with the growth of the city area.

Keeping this in view, slogans selected for this year's World Environment Day celebration were ''Melting Ice: A hot topic'' in support of ''International polar year'' just to focus on the effects that climate change is having on polar eco-system and the global communities.

The agenda of this day included giving human face to environmental issues, empowering people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development, promoting an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues.

UNI