People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC)

PUBLIC is a non-profit, non-political, voluntary organization with three major items on the agenda:

• Controlling Noise Pollution
• Reducing Air Pollution
• Active Citizenship

The organization was started on Earth Day, April 22, 1990, with the conviction that citizens must act for themselves to solve problems degrading their environment.

 PUBLIC functions:

To monitor issues relating air and noise pollution in Calcutta, and place them on the agenda of official agencies. To develop alternative solutions to Calcutta's environmental problems, and feasible strategies to implement them.

 Achievements so far. . . .

Greening the city- Organized tree planting in conjunction with concerned groups and official task forces, especially the Government's Environment & Forest Department, and Calcutta Municipal Corporation's Parks & Gardens Department. It has already planted several hundred trees in and around the city, including 300 along the Eastern Bypass to mark Calcutta's 300 years.

Fighting automobile pollution - PUBLIC approaches the problem by addressing the extreme hazards first. They have so far moved against mass polluters - buses, taxis, private cars that emit the most visible, gross pollutants

Protecting Calcutta's wetlands - PUBLIC is helping build awareness of why and how much Calcutta needs its wetlands. Most pertinent today as it helps decongest the eastern environs, and allows some clean air into the city, a phenomenon acknowledged by domestic and international experts alike

Creating Silent Zones - PUBLIC has been working to have the neighbourhood around hospitals and schools declared as silence zones. Schoolchildren have taken part in street campaigns and written to fleet owners, including corporate houses, to instruct their drivers accordingly.

Address:
PUBLIC,11,Hindustan Park,
Calcutta 700029;
Phone: 2464 2921 / 2555
Fax: 2249 5290