12-Year-Old Environmental Activist's Letter To PM, Wrote About Her "Biggest Nightmare"

New Delhi  :  Unnati Khandelwal Ridhima Pandey, an Environmental Activist, wrote a handwritten letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of first ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies', showing concerns about polluted air and demanding clean air for all.  

12-year-old environmental activist, who belongs to Haridwar in Uttarakhand wrote in the letter to the PM that if serious actions are not taken then in future, children would have to carry oxygen cylinders everywhere on their shoulders. She wrote, “Sir, kindly help us by making sure that an oxygen cylinder does not become an essential part of the life of children, which we have to carry on our shoulders everywhere in the future.”  She expressed that her "biggest nightmare" is to go to school with an oxygen cylinder as air is so polluted specially in the cities. Ridhima worded that, “I worry if a 12-year-old like me finds it hard to breathe, what must it be like for babies or children younger to me living in cities like Delhi and others", as after the month of October, in many parts if the country, people find themselves with difficulty in breathing.  

An Environmental activist from Haridwar, Ridhima, also committed to paper about a certain situation and called it worrisome. Here she penned down the issue of linkage of air pollution and coronavirus related mortality, "Post the pandemic, we have read about many research studies suggesting a link between air pollution and Covid 19 related incidences and mortalities. This is very worrying". She marked the problem of air pollution as alarming specially in densely polluted cities, which makes it hazardous for people living there, causing severe health issues. She tweeted, "The air pollution in many densely populated cities like Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, Mumbai, Chennai and others is very high, making it hazardous for the people living there, causing severe health issues".  

She put into words as she made a request, "As our Prime Minister, you have accepted climate change as a reality. Today, on the ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies’, on the behalf of all children of India, I would like to make a request to you. Please think about our future,” she said. . She asked quick directions from the Prime Minister, concerned authorities, and officers-in-charge managing pollution across India. “Ask them to strictly implement all the rules and regulations so that citizens of India can breathe clean air.”  

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies resolution was adopted last year at the United Nation's 74th General Assembly. This day aims towards raising awareness about the importance of clean air at all levels viz. individual, community, corporate and government.