People's March for Environment

Dream Wanderlust | Feb 10 , 2018

A team of environmental enthusiasts from West Bengal has planned to create 'Environmental awareness' among common people through a walk of 1000km 'from Hill to Sea'. They have named their campaign and awareness program as "People's March for Environment" which will start on 19th February 2018, from Tiger Hill of Darjeeling district to Sagar Island, South 24 Parganas of West Bengal spanning across 33 days. "Any individual who is concerned about the environment, can join us for the walk and take part in the campaign to make a change in the society. We would also like to request activists, clubs and organizations to support us for this march," said by Mr. Kallol Roy, an activist from the organizing committee.

Also Read: Bengali woman to start a solo Kayaking expedition on the river Ganga to promote environmental rights

The idea of 'Green Walk' has come from a medical student Rahul Deb Biswas. "We all know that Global Warming is a very huge problem for the Earth and all of us are facing it's consequences in our daily life. Despite of knowing this we are not taking any concrete step and moreover we are trying to do things discretely on our own. But to make an impact we need to be united on a same platform and to do so we have decided to arrange this Walk," said Mr. Rahul Deb Biswas. Later the 'People's March for Environment Committee' was formed to support the 'Green Walk'on 8th January 2018 in an open meeting. 'Sabuj Mancha' has also supported the 'Walk'. They have decided the main agenda as 'connecting people to nature'.

As reported by the 'People's March for Environment Committee', the major reasons behind this 'movement' are (1) At the time of finalizing new projects/constructions the Government doesn't consider any Environmental Impact Assessment of the projects (2) Rampant deforestation and filling of wetland, water body or paddy fields (3) Negligence in saving animals from extinction (4) Failure of the municipalities in non-biodegradable waste management (5) Incapability of the administration in taking measures to minimize the causes of water,sound and air pollution.

Organizer has said that this is going to be a relay walk. They will cover 12 districts of West Bengal. Starting from Darjeeling, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Nadia, North 24 parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and South 24 parganas as confirmed by Mr.Kallol Roy.

"We want to make people aware through our walk as well as we want to have a clear picture of the areas which we will cover, so that we can get to know about the problems they face on a daily basis because of pollution. We also have a plan to survey some environmental issues involving local people, to estimate the recent status of the districts which they would come across. For the ease of interaction with the localities, we will also arrange 'Green corner' every evening. The local clubs and organizations are going to support us in doing this," said by Mr. Kallol Roy.

The objectives of the 'Green Corner', in a nutshell, as reported by the committee is to create awareness about the environment among the local people and let them know about the consequences of environmental pollution; to know about the problems of the local people that they face due to pollution; to let people know how we can cure our environment through some minute changes in our life style."People from different occupations, cultures and class of society have been invited to these green corners. The 'People's March for Environment Committee' is very much hopeful of this event and looking forward to positive feedback and results" said Mr. Kallol Roy.

Plan of the 'Green Walk'
19th Feb & 20th Feb Tiger Hill to Siliguri: 63km
21st Feb Siliguri to Haftia: 31km
22nd Haftia to Islampur: 33km
23rd Islampur to Goalpokhar: 26km
24th Goalpokhar to Khanta: 29km
25th Khanta to Raiganj: 35km
26th Raiganj to Itahar: 20km
27th Itahar to Banshihari: 32km
28th Feb Banshihari to Fulbari: 21km
1st March Fulbari to Balurghat: 26km
2nd & 3rd Balurghat to Bamangola: 63km
4th Bamangola to Malda Town: 34km
5th Malda Town to Farakka: 38km
6th, 7th & 8th Farakka to Baharampur: 95km
9th & 10th Baharampur to Katwa: 69km
11th Katwa to Purbasthali: 34km
12th Purbasthali to Krishnanagar: 26km
13th Krishnanagar to Shantipur: 17km
14th Shantipur to Chakdaha: 34km
15th Chakdaha to Bangaon: 37km
16th Bangaon to Habra: 30km
17th Habra to Barasat: 23km
18th Barasat to Serampore: 20km
19th Serampore to Howrah: 22km
20th Howrah to Kolkata: 3km
21st Kolkata to Baruipur: 31km
22nd Baruipur to Joynagar: 24km
23rd Joynagar to Kulpi: 22km
24th Kulpi to Kakdwip: 26km
25th Kakdwip to Sagar Island: 36km