Citizens' forum asks parties to set up air quality agendas

Amritsar, January 18

Ahead of the Assembly election, members of the Clean Air Punjab, a citizen’s collective working on the issue of air pollution, along with EcoSikh and over 50 prominent citizens’ groups from across the state, have sensitised all political parties to spare a thought for the depleting environment.

In the backdrop, experts and civil society members had brainstormed, discussed and finally developed a detailed set of recommendations for improved air quality throughout the state. Submitting them to representatives of all major political parties, they have asked them to mention their plans to tackle the problem of air pollution, in their manifesto.

Punjab Development Forum member and United Sikhs director Gurpreet Singh has submitted a dossier containing all recommendations to SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema, Sunam AAP MLA Aman Arora and Rajya Sabha Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa.

According to statistics, in 2019, as many as 41,090 persons died due to air pollution in the state. This accounts for around 19 per cent of the state’s total mortality, said Gurpreet.

“Punjab needs a strong leader, who can implement structural reforms and policies to improve the state’s air quality. We want our leaders to lead by example and tell their plans in their party manifesto to tackle air pollution,” said the United Sikhs director.

Voice of Amritsar vice-president Indu Aurora said: “We will hold the new administration accountable for their promises. It’s high time that those who get voted to power should take concrete steps to ensure a cleaner environment.”

EcoSikh board member Anju Chabbra said: “Members of the Citizens’ groups, air quality experts and health practitioners have jointly been successful in forming a pressure group. We are pretty sure that the political parties will not be able to ignore our issues now.”