Islamic Republic officials judge air pollution from outside perspective

Soheila Kh. FCNN News Agency: With the onset of the cold season, air pollution has gripped many of the country's major cities, and the Islamic Republic's officials are only covering up the problem.

In other words, they resort to the most illogical solutions to cover up the shortcomings and managerial weaknesses in running the country.

Closing schools in recent years is one of these solutions. As soon as the weather becomes unhealthy, students are forced to stay home. In addition to depriving students of education, this solution also causes problems for parents.

This trend in the country has been criticized by Iqbal Shakeri, a member of the Tehran City Council.

According to ISNA, he emphasized that some officials have placed air pollution masks over their eyes instead of their noses so that they do not see the psychological and health damage being done to people.

Meanwhile, other slogans are being raised by officials claiming to be making efforts. But their claims are so far from reality that it seems as if they are completely alien to Iran and the conditions of various cities.

Several Iranian compatriots, speaking to FCNN, attributed this alienation to the officials' distance from the daily lives of the people, believing that they sit outside and chant slogans.

Officials are dreamers, not realists.

Ebrahim is a citizen of Isfahan. He refers to the implementation of a project called the Car-Free Tuesdays campaign in this metropolis. However, he claims that despite the authorities' announcement of their approval, pedestrianizing Chaharbagh Street on this day has had no effect on reducing the city's pollution.

He is also aware of the implementation of this plan in Shiraz and says that preventing car traffic on Afif Abad Street in Shiraz will not solve any problems, because this street never has heavy traffic and is not a place for cars to move or gather.

According to this citizen, officials should pay attention to reality, not daydream, to evaluate the feedback on projects that are also costly.

Cycling banned for half of the population

In addition, people are constantly advised to use public transportation and bicycles to combat air pollution.

While according to Mina, a citizen of Shirazi, women, who make up half of the country's population, are not allowed to ride bicycles in public places according to Islamic law.

In an interview with FCNN, this citizen claimed that the public transportation fleet in most of the country's metropolises is not commensurate with the population of the applicant. For example, the project for the first metro line in Shiraz has been underway for twenty years. The department operating this line also provides services on the Domeidan route, which does not have heavy traffic.

Mina is asking the authorities to be a bus passenger in Shiraz or Mashhad, or to ride the subway in Tehran, for once, so that they can understand the pain of the people.

Ignoring environmental problems in the country

Meanwhile, the priority position of the environment sector in the annual allocation of funds can reflect the Iranian authorities' view of controlling phenomena such as air pollution.

Sadeq Ziba Kalam has challenged this view in the Etemad newspaper. According to him, the country's total environmental budget, with more than 6,000 environmentalists and employees, was around 175 billion Tomans in 2014. While in the same year, 35 institutions, foundations, organizations, and centers received a budget of nearly 6 trillion Tomans for the country's cultural issues and advertising.

He continues: "Then, with this money, they are supposed to prevent the drying up of Lake Urmia; restore the Karun River, which has been turned into sewage; prevent the influx of dust and fine particles into Khuzestan and the west of the country; restore the Anzali Wetland, which has been turned into a sludge pit; improve the Gilan and Mazandaran rivers, which discharge urban and industrial sewage from northern cities into the Caspian Sea; prevent the air in Tehran and other large cities from becoming polluted; prevent forest fires and control soil erosion."

Currently, 20% of the fuel required for automobiles in our country is imported, and about 70 million liters of gasoline are consumed in Iran daily. There is no doubt that equipping the public transportation fleet and ensuring the welfare of the people in this way can lead to a reduction in the use of private cars and control air pollution. However, this is not possible by shouting slogans and wiping the slate clean. This is a trend that those involved in affairs in Iran have followed in recent years, and its unfortunate result is also before the people.

Therefore, the country's media is expected to challenge the authorities and, by avoiding self-censorship, clarify what position the health of the people and environmental protection in Iran hold for the authorities of the Islamic Republic.