Environment Week to focus on the Parsi Hill Destruction

Mumbai, May 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a ceremony from his Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take part in the World Environment Day celebration on 5th June and a communications expert team launched a campaign to focus on the neglected quarry that once destroyed a lovely Parsik hill here. The relentless blasting of Parsik Hill has led to not only widespread destruction of nature, but created massive air pollution adversely impacting the health of the people living in the vicinity. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) itself has said that the air pollution levels in the areas around stone crushers of quarries are 100 times the acceptable levels.
Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) -- the premier national body of PR, media, advertising, HR professionals and mass communication academicians and students -- has embarked on this unique communication campaign to draw the attention of all stakeholders to the hazards of Parsik Hill quarrying. "The title of the campaign across social media -- on twitter, Facebook and Youtube -- is #IamParsikHill and IamDying. We will soon work ground events with mass communication students once the colleges reopen," said PRCI National President B.N. Kumar.
PRCI chief mentor and chairman emeritus M.B. Jayaram said: "This campaign is part of our series of social communication endeavours. Since our motto is Communication for Better World, we continue to engage ourselves in such campaigns."
A PRCI campaign -- Mission Mumbai Local, focusing on improving the suburban train infrastructure -- has won PR Milestone of the Year award from America's PR World. Meanwhile, Shree Ekvira Aai Pratishthan (SEAP), which raised concern over the quarrying, has decided to extend its support to the #IamParsikHill campaign. "It is a worthy cause," SEAP founder Nandkumar Pawar said. "The need of the hour is to maintain green cover for the rapidly developing city and not destruction in the name of development. Quarrying could be done outside city limits and Parsik Hill digging should never be permitted," he added. 
As the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is hearing a PIL on the issue, quarrying has been stopped for some time now. But the Thane District Collector allowed three quarries to operate. Activists fear that quarrying may make a backdoor entry sooner than later. The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government banned the Quarter in Parsi Hills. The ban was imposed on Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. But later the explosion of hills began to resume. A brief survey at the hills from the Sion-Panvel road highlights the tragic situation of the stolen hills on the Thane-Belapur road.