GREEN MANIFESTO FOR PUNJAB 2022
(Version 0.5 —DRAFT)
Punjab needs pollution free and clean model of development. The befooling of Punjabis by marketing destruction as progress and promoting a model of development which is polluting and damaging to our precious natural resources like water and air is costing is dearly in terms of health. This needs to change now. We would like to initiate a public discussion and discourse with political parties of Punjab on various aspects of environment of Punjab through this ‘Green Manifesto’. The purpose is to improve understanding of issues so that they find a place in election manifestos being prepared by them for 2022 elections.
- Mattewara Textile Park / Modern Industrial Park, KoomKalan :- Its a very inappropriate choice of location given the ecological sensitivity and proximity of Sutlej which is a direct drinking water source of millions on one side and Mattewara forest on the other. What will your govt do to change location or cancellation of this project if elected?
- Industrial policy to promote only clean industries :- Punjab is an agrarian state that depends a lot on its water resources both underground and surface water. This water needs to be protected from pollution via waste water which originates in both industrial and domestic sources. Punjab needs more clean industries which do not damage its water reserves and environment and therefore protect health of its citizens. What will your govt do to improve industrial policy so that we discourage polluting industries and encourage clean industries.
- Forests :- Punjab has only 3.6% area under forest cover which is lowest in the country and below even Rajasthan. Most of that is near Himachal border and there is hardly any forest in plains. What will be your forest cover improvement policy?
- Trees in non forest areas :- Lots of trees are lost every year in the name of development like road expansion projects. Lots of trees are cut even for generating revenue by village panchayats and schools to sell timber. There have been demands from many civil society organizations for a complete ban on cutting of trees for atleast 10 years in Punjab eg the “Rukh Bachao Manukh Bachao” campaign by Naroa Punjab Manch. Will your govt implement such a ban on cutting of trees?
- Trees in farms :- Over the years trees have been reduced in the farms across the state. Do you have any ideas on policy measures to reverse that?
- Biodiversity :- What will be your plan to protect biodiversity of the state which is so far a completely neglected issue?
- Protection of rivers from illegal mining :- What will you do about it?
- Protection of river flood plains :- River flood plains are very important and their protection is also very important. They are being damaged by illegal mining, illegal construction activity and even ill planned schemes by the govt itself where they are themselves planning concrete jungles on flood plains of Sutlej and other rivers in Punjab. Govt of Punjab has not even followed directions of the NGT to demarcate flood plains of its rivers. What will your govt do about these flood plains?
- Action plans submitted to NGT :- Govt of Punjab has submitted many action plans to NGT in recent years like those for clean river Sutlej, Beas, Ghaggar, Air, Rejuvenation of Ponds, cleaning up of air etc. The performance of current govt on acting on those plans is not upto the mark as can be seen from the massive fines being imposed by NGT on Punjab Pollution Control Board etc. and adverse remarkes by monitoring committees.
- Sutlej clean up :- Sutlej is drinking water source of millions and badly polluted by Buddha Nullah and many other drains. The STPs of municipal authorities are not functioning properly. There is no way to audit their performance. The industrial common effluent treatment plants of dyeing industry in Ludhiana are under construction for years despite assurances every few months by industries and PPCB.
- Buddha Dariya Clean Up – The 650 crore Buddha Nullah rejuvenation project is being executed in a non transparent manner which is a recepie for disaster. It has no eminent scientist in the leadership position to ensure that the project delivers on its promise of rejuvenating Buddha Dariya. What will you do to improve that?
- Underground water – Quality and water table of underground aquifers are both degrading due to reasons like over extraction and under recharge of underground water. How will you prevent over extraction and how will you ensure better recharge?
- Non Kaddu Paddy Techniques :- What will your govt do to popularize non kaddu rice growing techniques for better rain water harvesting on massive 30000 sq kilometers of paddy fields (60% area of Punjab) and to promote less water consuming rice growing techniques which PAU has been reluctant to do for many years?
- Rainwater Harvesting :- What will be your policy for new commercial, industrial and residential buildings with regards to provision for rain water harvesting.
- Desertification of Punjab :- Many govt studies have suggested that Punjab is heading towards desertification. What will be your govt’s action plan towards that?
- Protection and Rejuvenation of Ponds :- Village ponds are being lost due to encroachment and being filled up. This is leading to more pollution in rivers and reduction in wetlands in villages and reduced rain water recharging.
- Air Quality Issues :- Punjab esp its cities suffer from bad air quality. It includes air pollution from industrial, vehicular and farm sources. What will be your plan to tackle these issues?
- Dirty fuels :- Dirty fuels like PET coke should be completely banned in Punjab for industrial fuel or other purposes. Such ban should also be effectively ensured on the ground via checking and monitoring.
- Vehicles :- What will be your policy about vehicles especially polluting vehicles?
- Thermal Power vs Clean Power :- Punjab has been dependent mostly on thermal power which burns fossil fuel. This is both polluting and emits green house gases. What will your policy to reduce dependence on coal and reducing pollution from coal fired plants.
- Crop diversification :- Over dependence on paddy is not just an agriculture problem its also an environment issue. Over extraction of ground water is reducing water table. Deep underground water also has quality issues. So much production of paddy also causes difficulties in managing so much stubble which leads to stubble burning. What will be your crop diversification plan if elected?
- Pesticides and agrochemicals :- What will you do to reduce use of toxic chemicals in farms esp on food crops to produce healthier crops.
- Single use plastic:- Govt of Punjab banned plastic carry bags in 2016 along with many other single use plastic items. Despite ban nothing was enforced on the ground and every nook and corner of Punjab has such banned items available. What will you do about this?
- Solid waste management :- Its a huge problem that govts have failed to manage. What will be your plan to improve this?
- Open garbage burning :- This is a common practice which is banned on paper but like many other bans not followed. How will you tackle this?
- Protection of Green Belts :- A lot of green belts are lost due to fraudulent change of land use by land development authorities themselves. Recently Ludhiana Improvement Trust was caught and prevented from doing this on one green belt via NGT by some NGOs. What will your govt do to ensure green belts are protected, developed and nurtured.
- Roof Top Solar :- Roof top solar is a great way of generating clean electricity which must be promoted. The roof top solar policy of the state so far is not very encouraging. The state should actively promote clean electricity production via roof top solar by removing red tape in net metering policy and encouraging citizens to become self sufficient in clean electricity production. What will you do about it?
- Climate Change :- Climate change is happening around the world and govts are mostly responding by putting their head in the sand. Do you have something in mind on that?
- Transparency and ensuring zero corruption in environment contracts :- Corruption is a way of life in govt projects. Transparency is abhored by officials and they hold all documents close to their chest. The documents that should be in public domain are not even shared easily under RTI. Its a well known fact that corrupt officials, bureaucrats and politicians even hold up payments of the contractors engaged in contracts till they get their cut in the payments. This nexus leads to poor quality work and project failures. How will you ensure that environment projects stop getting jeopardized for such reasons. Timely audit of works to ensure quality and also timely payments to contractors after the work is done should be ensured so that no officials are able to hold environment related projects to ransom and lead to their failure. How will you ensure full transparency, proper execution and accountability in environment related project contracts?
- Punjab Pollution Control Board :- PPCB has a reputation of being very corrupt and non effective. What will you do to improve the functioning of PPCB?
- Engagement with environment experts :- So far most govt projects get executed without any involvement of eminent environment experts. Govt believes in doing every thing through politicians and bureaucrats. Eg Buddha Dariya Rejuvenation project.
- Environment Education Policy :- Environment is a compulsory subject in college but it is not taken seriously by any one. There are hardly any teachers for this subject in colleges and the exam is without credits. What will your govt do to change this?
- Dairy clusters :- Dairy clusters in cities and near rivers or other water bodies should be avoided as per NGT directions. Extreme concentration of cattle in single cluster like in Ludhiana dairy clusters creates problems for sewage network and STPs. How will you ensure an environment friendly policy on this?
- Illegal colonies :- Illegal colonies create lots of pressure on sewage systems of legal colonies near them. What will be your policy on solid and liquid waste generated by such colonies?
- Green Helpline :- A single statewide helpline number where complaints related to illegal cutting of trees, pollution and other environment matters etc can be reported.
- Green Police Stations :- Special police stations in big cities like Ludhiana to handle environment related crimes.
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2 comments
Let the Political Parties make the masses aware of their initiatives towards Conservation and Preservation of Environment, allocation of funds, their objectives and how are they going to meet these objectives with fixed time span to achieve the targets set.
Very relevant issue. The parameters of GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT needs to be redefined. We are witnessing the global climate changes, playing Havoc. We need to go back to NATURE and the subject under reference be made mandatory from the school level.