Amarinder writes to PM Modi, seeks Centre’s intervention

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “anguish” at the emergencylevel pollution in the national capital.

Smoke from farm fires in Punjab is known to contribute to high pollution levels in Delhi and other parts of north India as farmers burn paddy stubble in preparation of sowing wheat.

In the letter he accepts Punjab’s role in the deterioration of air quality but included other governments, including the Centre, for the mess. “Together, we have allowed this state of affairs to emerge and sustain , with our various acts of commission and ommission,” Singh wrote.

In his letter, he said that “No Indian, and definitely no person in Punjab, is oblivious to the misery of our brethren in the national capital, whatever many around the country might have been led to believe.”

Pointing out that his own children and grandchildren living in Delhi, were currently sharing the plight of the lakhs of people in the national capital as a result of the toxic air enveloping the city, he said the prevailing situation “has exposed the hollowness of our claims of being a progressive and developed nation.” “How can a country be called developed when its capital city has been reduced to a gas chamber, not by any natural disaster but a series of man-made ones?” Singh asked.

Singh admitted that stubble fires, supported by winds, were contributing to the toxic levels of air pollution . He noted data from several independent agencies had pointed out that large-scale industrial pollution, the traffic overload, the excessive construction activity taking place in Delhi were equally, if not more, to blame. He said the crux of the problem was that we have persistently and foolishly refused to rise above political considerations to launch a collective search for a permanent solution.

Singh wrote that Punjab had tried to enforce the law against stubble burning to the maximum extent possible, and was even penalising the farmers.

“Even though it goes against my conscience to punish a community that continues to suffer at the hands of an ungrateful nation. But that does not really deter the farmers from resorting to the burning of the paddy straw to keep their pathetic margins from falling further,” he said.

Delhi and Haryana, too, were doing what they could, in their own ways, he pointed out but said the role of the Centre had remained dubious, even though it was the biggest stakeholder of national prosperity.