The growing affluence, however, has brought with it mounting environmental problems. With 25 percent of Rajasthan's 1.22 million vehicles registered here, air pollution in the Pink City exceeds the World Health Organization's permissible limits by three times.

Recently, the municipality took the radical step of banning three-wheelers, but this has had little impact on air quality, which is worsened by emissions from two large industrial areas on the outskirts.

Water quality is also poor due to the lack of adequate sewage disposal systems, and the fact that around one third of the city's inhabitants live in slum dwellings without toilets.

As a result, infectious diseases are rapidly increasing, notably hepatitis (a real problem here at the start of the hot season in March and April) and malaria (seventy percent of cases reported in one hospital in 1997 were of the deadly Falciparum strain).

The civic authority's inability to respond effectively to Jaipur's public health problems was epitomized in June 1996 when an anti-malarial "fogging operation" in the walled old town led to hospitalization of 2700 people with breathing problems and bronchitis.
back

COME2RAJASTHAN.COM © 2006  Sitemap | Google Travel Link Exchange
ParadisePath.com Travel Guide to India, Caribbean, Bahamas, Rio de Janeiro