Mumbai: Despite Maharashtra being the most polluted state, both ruling parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have ignored all key environmental issues including air pollution. The environmental activists has expressed their displeasure at the manifestos of BJP and Shiv Sena.
The manifesto of BJP was released on Tuesday and Shiv Sena's manifesto was released on Saturday.
"It is disappointing that both BJP and Shiv Sena have completely ignored all environmental issues the State is grappling with for many years now. What is even more surprising is whilst BJP acknowledged the growing air pollution crisis in their national manifesto just a few months ago, they have decided to turn a blind eye to the same issue in Maharashtra, which according to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is the most polluted state with 18 cities out 122 in India. A quick search of the manifesto revealed that the words “air” or “pollution” do not even feature once in the BJP Manifesto for Maharashtra," Bhagwan Keshbhat of Maharashtra Clean Air Collective said in a statement.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data has revealed that Nitrogen Dioxide levels are dangerously high in Pune, Badlapur, Ulhasnagar while Fine Particles (PM 2.5) limits continuously exceed approved limits in Vidarbha, Nagpur, Akola, Amaravati and Chandrapur. In a recently released report on Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) by Epic, if all the cities in Maharashtra met the WHO standards on Air Pollution, the average life expectancy will increase by 3 years, the collective said.
Earlier this month, members of Maharashtra Clean Air Collective met the drafting committee members from all political parties. The Collective handed over to the party members a set of recommendations to be included in their party manifestos. While the Congress, NCP & AAP have acknowledged the hazards of growing air pollution and promised a slew of measures to reduce emissions, the ruling coalition has completely disregarded all environmental issues.
“While on the one hand our Prime Minister continues to make all the right statements on environment protection at National as well as International platforms, I am baffled to see his vision on a clean and healthy environment for India missing from Maharashtra’s vision. There cannot be an economy without ecology,” said Kesbhat, Founder Director of Waatavaran, an NGO .
“Whilst growth is welcome, growth cannot take place at the expense of the health of our future generations. We need to protect them from the crisis of air pollution, and ensure that we all have access to clean air all year round and all over India,” added Debi Goenka, Executive Trustee of Conservation Action Trust.
