A Bombay politician has set up an 'oxygen tent'
                 for cops manning a busy junction to give them a
                 chance to escape the pollution every few hours

                 By JON STOCK
                 IN NEW DELHI

                 TRAFFIC police at one of Bombay's most congested
                 road junctions have been given oxygen cylinders and
                 masks in an attempt to save their lungs from the city's
                 rising pollution.

                 Policemen at the busy Gold Spot junction in
                 north-west Bombay can now retreat to a roadside
                 "oxygen tent" every four hours to inhale oxygen for 15
                 minutes.

                 Constable Jadhav, one of 140 policemen who man
                 the junction, said yesterday: "It's like taking a morning
                 walk in extremely fresh and unpolluted environs and
                 reaping its benefits all through the day."

                 The tent, the first of its kind in India, was installed by
                 local politician Suresh Shetty, who said at its
                 inauguration this week that Bombay's pollution had
                 reached "astronomical levels".

                 The idea was suggested to him by a senior police
                 officer, who was concerned for the health of his men.

                 Mr Shetty added: "This will undo the harm done to
                 them by vehicular pollution."

                 More tents are expected throughout the city in the
                 coming weeks, although they have already been
                 criticised.

                 Dr Manoj Kulkarni of the International Institute for
                 Sustainable Future in Bombay told The Pioneer
                 newspaper: "This may solve the problem for a handful
                 of traffic cops, but what about the hundreds of
                 thousands of people exposed to increasing vehicular
                 pollution?

                 "The state government should be thinking in terms of
                 expanding the public-transport network and reducing
                 the number of private vehicles to bring down pollution
                 levels."

                 A similar scheme to preserve the health of traffic
                 police in New Delhi has been delayed.

                 Two months ago, 15 "solar traffic booths" were
                 installed amid considerable hype at major junctions in
                 the city, but they are yet to be unlocked.

                 Powered by solar energy, they contain an ioniser, an
                 air purifier and a fan and are intended to provide a
                 safe haven from the pollution.

                 The booths are also equipped with a siren and a
                 public-address system, allowing police to conduct
                 traffic from inside when pollution levels and the heat
                 of Delhi's searing summers become too much.

                 One policeman at New Delhi's notoriously busy ITO
                 junction said: "All we see is people coming to clean
                 our booth. We are yet to be given the keys."

                       Adapted from The Straits Times, 24 Feb 2000.