Anbumani Ramadoss participates in Chennai Run to raise awareness about climate change impact

Tamil Nadu government must consider declaring climate change emergency; It needs to set aside ₹1 lakh crore for water management alone, said the PMK leader

PMK president Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss participated in the ‘Chennai Run’ held to raise awareness about the impact of climate change and importance of declaring climate change emergency at Besant Nagar in Chennai on Sunday morning. 

The State government must seriously consider declaring climate change emergency to combat the rapid changes in climate seen around the world. “Not just in Chennai and Tamil Nadu, we are also seeing the impact of climate change across India and around the world. We are experiencing natural disasters, changes in temperatures. Every year, there is an announcement that the year will experience the hottest temperature. On one hand, we have drought and on the other hand, there are floods,” said Dr. Anbumani. 

Stating that there is a need for awareness among students, workers, youth and NGOs regarding impact of the climate change, he said the responsibility was on everybody to act on climate change.

“We have put forward a number of suggestions from Pasumai Thayagam and the State government has to implement it,” Dr. Anbumani adding that the government has to prioritise water management, plant a lot of trees and promote the use of public transport.

“Tamil Nadu government has not set aside funds of climate change. It needs to set aside ₹1 lakh crore for water management alone. The monsoon used to be 45 days but now it has reduced to 30 days. The amount of rainfall received in 3 days is now received in one day. We do not have a system to collect that amount of rainfall in a day,” he said. 

Actor Siddharth and filmmaker Vignesh Shivan also participated in the run. Dr. Anbumani said he would reach out to Tamil film industry to take the message of climate change to the public at large. The event was organised by Pasumai Thayagam.