DNA Edit: Peace & Quiet, Please

Jantar Mantar, a traditional site of dissent in the country’s Capital, is now off-limits to protestors as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) wants to rescue the area from environmental degradation.

Pollution in Delhi has acquired alarming proportions, and rampant misuse of the venue has further precipitated the decline in environmental standards. The NGT’s scathing observation of the state of affairs holds the Delhi government responsible since the latter has failed to protect the rights of the people living in that area to a pollution-free environment. In four weeks’ time, Jantar Mantar will be scrubbed clean as the bench headed by Justice RS Rathore has ordered for the removal of garbage and all temporary structures, loud speakers and public-address systems from that stretch.

The NGT had to turn a saviour for the hapless residents because over the years neither the Centre nor the state government bothered to take action for fear of a backlash from activists, NGOs and political outfits — turning their backs on an unclean, and noisy locality in the name of protecting a robust democratic culture.

A venue that accommodates about 5,000 people rarely goes empty because India will never run out of issues that demands protests, sit-ins and sloganeering. It also offers opportunities for brisk business for hawkers peddling sundry wares and food items. On top of these, the emergence of bovines in the hotbed of agitation, thanks to cattle protectors, has made matters worse. Now on, dissent will find articulation in a different venue, at the Ramlila Grounds in Ajmeri Gate. While the nation renews its vows for a Swachh Bharat, residents around Jantar Mantar can aspire to a quieter life in cleaner surroundings.