Green issues not on priority list of parties

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, February 2

Elections are just round the corner but no party has even bothered to touch upon the sensitive issue of environment till date.

Poor air quality, noise, water and soil pollution are several problems being faced by the residents in the city, but who cares?

In a recent meeting, the members of 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, recently sensitised all political parties to spare a thought for the depleting environment.

However, no party has picked the issue of environment so far.

Despite various Central regulatory bodies, including the National Green Tribunal and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, issuing directions and funds to improve the city’s air quality, not much is visible on the ground.

The city was listed in the non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which means the holy city does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation had received Rs19 crore to improve the air quality in the city under NCAP. The city was selected based on the air quality data from 2014 to 2018. The projects are yet to be implemented and the tendering process was undergoing before the imposition of the poll code. To reduce pollution level, the Rejuvenation of Auto-Rickshaw in Amritsar through Holistic Intervention (RAAHI) project was launched by Amritsar Smart City Limited (ASCL).

In 2020, the air and noise pollution levels were monitored in different parts of the city under the Smart City Mission. Under this, a total of 13 places of the city were monitored for 24 hours continuously with combo dust sampler machine and noise-level meter, where particulate matter (PM) 10 and PM 2.5 levels in the air were reported higher than the normal value. Apart from this, the level of noise pollution has also been recorded higher than the limit set by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Sandeep Kural, an activist, said: “For the last 10 years, we have been fighting against regular fires on Bhagtanwala garbage dump. It regularly affects the air quality of the city. Ironically, political parties in opposition talk about the dump but no one address the issue.”