CHENNAI: As someone who has an impact on policy decisions, I cannot ignore climate change even if it doesn’t get me votes, MLA and Yuva Sena president, Aaditya Thackeray said at the ThinkEdu Conclave in Chennai on Friday.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Climate Change: Why We Need to Care’, Thackeray said, “We often think that we are isolated from nature and are doing the planet a favour, that we are trying to save the planet. That’s not so, we’re trying to save ourselves.”
Appreciating the TN government’s initiatives to create urban forests and train elephant mahouts, he expressed concern that Maharastra is now lagging behind. Explaining the cost of climate change, he said the Maharashtra government had to give farmers around Rs 14,500 crore in 2020 during the pandemic due to damage caused by hailstorms, unseasonal rainfall and cloud bursts.
“These incidents are increasing. The number of days of rainfall has reduced and the volume increased. In Mumbai, we would have about 120 days of rainfall. Now, it has come down to about 70, but the volume has increased to 200 mm per hour. No city can take beyond 50 mm,” he said.