Meraj Dey, a youth from North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, last week completed a 2,000km bicycle journey from New Delhi to Meghalaya with a motive to make the country green.
He started this journey on January 26 from New Delhi and reached Shillong on March 12.
During an interaction with a select group of journalists, he said that the reason to start from New Delhi was that this state was in the red zone in terms of pollution and concluding it in Meghalaya since the state is free from pollution.
“So I came from the red zone to green zone area to show people how Meghalaya is compared to other states of the country and in one way or the other we should learn to plant trees like what they are doing here,” Dey said.
Advocating the use of bicycles in one’s everyday life he said that there is a lot of greenery in Meghalaya and if it is the same in other places of the country, pollution can be reduced.
“Riding a bicycle keeps one healthy and it will also help reduce pollution,” Dey added.
When asked how to address the issues of unemployment by setting up industries vis-à-vis pollution, Dey said that even though there are no industries in the state, people’s lives are going on and no one is sleeping hungry.
He said that even if industries are set up it is advantageous and if not also one can do something on their own.
“But having industries is also disadvantageous,” Dey added.
He also had a message for the government of Meghalaya, “Meghalaya is beautiful and we would want it to remain like this and if industries come there will be pollution and the air will become bad.”
