Punjab residents ask politicians to set air quality agendas
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Oct, 2021 10:19 AM
Chandigarh, Oct 28 (IANS) In the lead up to the Assembly polls in Punjab, experts and civil society members on Thursday discussed and developed a detailed set of recommendations to improve air quality across the state here.
The recommendations will now be included in the people's manifesto to tackle air pollution and will be soon submitted to all political parties.
Organised by EcoSikh and Clean Air Punjab, a citizen's collective working on the issue of air pollution, over 50 prominent citizens across the state attended the meeting.
Citizens' demands focused on their right to clean air and the ability to breathe, highlighting the fact that Punjab is home to some of India's most polluted cities, including Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala.
Speaking about how citizen groups have elevated the dialogue on air pollution and made it an election issue for the upcoming legislative elections, Supreet Kaur, President of EcoSikh, said, "The year is the first time that air pollution has been highlighted in citizen campaigns across Punjab. The momentum built by citizen groups, health practitioners and experts has taken years to reach its current scale,"
She said residents of the state are up in arms seeing the toxic air not only impacting them but also their children.
Kaur said the people will vote for their right to clean air this election and no matter who gets elected, they will hold their leaders responsible to lead and bring about the necessary changes to safeguard the health of people from air pollution.
One of the key recommendations that was unanimously agreed was increasing the air quality monitoring network in the state.
Punjab has a total of nine non-attainment or million-plus cities under the National Clean Air Action Plan (NCAP) and everyone in the deliberation agreed that each non-attainment city should have a minimum of five real-time air quality monitoring stations covering the diverse type of land uses, which included residential, traffic, industrial, mixed-use or commercial areas.
Further, villages close to the non-attainment cities should have at least two real-time monitoring stations each.
Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental challenges India is facing today.
Its convenor and founder K.C. Singh, a former envoy to the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, said the manch wants to focus on challenges facing Punjab today and take the people's views.
Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday hailed the victory of his party in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections as "a forceful referendum of the Khalsa Panth in favour of the panthic identity and religious commitment of the party".
Ranjit Singh, a former follower of Ram Rahim, was shot dead by four assailants on July 10, 2002, in Kurukshetra after he allegedly "raised his voice" against the self-styled godman, who is currently lodged at the high-security Sunaria jail in Rohtak, 250 kms from state capital Chandigarh.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief J P Nadda on Tuesday asked the Congress national leadership to clarify their stand on whether they support the remarks on Kashmir and Pakistan made by party leaders in Punjab. Nadda said that the silence of the Congress leadership will be seen as being implicit to such objectionable remarks.
The farmers union leaders had earlier pointed out that Punjab had failed to hike sugarcane SAP in proportion to Haryana over this period, causing fiscal losses to them.
The Punjab Congress leaders who have distanced themselves from the so-called festering revolt in the party are: Kuldeep Vaid, Dalvir Singh Goldie, Santokh Singh, Angad Singh, Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli, all MLAs, and Bhalaipur Ajit Singh Mofar, a former MLA.
