Unliveable Indian cities

In most Western countries there is very little air or water pollution. This is because there are very stringent rules against it, and violation of these rules entail heavy penalties.

 In Western countries you can safely drink the water from the taps in the house. It is as clean as mineral water.

 In India, on the other hand, almost everything is polluted. There are no doubt anti-pollution laws. e.g. the Environment Protection Act, Air Pollution Act, Water Pollution Act, Food Safety and Standards Act, etc. But no one complies with  these laws ( e.g. the lead found in Maggi, which is really only the tip of the iceberg ).

 If you have an industry discharging toxic effluents into a river, instead of setting up an effluent treatment plant, which is very capital expensive, you just give a few thousand rupees every month to the pollution inspector, and he will turn a blind eye. For you this is very cost effective, and damn the public.

When I went to Varanasi a couple of years back, I was told by late Veer Bhadra Mishra, the bade mahant of Sankat Mochan temple ( who was a Professor of Engineering in B.H.U. and whose son, also a Professor of Engineering is now the mahant ) that there are 30  canals discharging sewage into the Ganga in the city.

 I was told by a friend in Allahabad ( my home town ) that the Sangam area, where pilgrims coming from all over India bathe, is highly polluted.

 Most cities in India are becoming hellish and practically unliveable. There is congestion and traffic jams regularly. Building laws are openly flouted. Even in 'posh' areas in Delhi like Defence Colony, South Extension, Greater Kailash, etc cars are parked all day on the roads, thus making the roads into garages. The same is the situation in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, etc where living and travelling on the roads is like going through Dante's Purgatory.

 Soon it will become like the Inferno .

 And our politicians, our 'rahbars', are behaving like Neros who are fiddling while Rome burns, or like the Bourbons before the French Revolution

Hari Om

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33002209