Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Takes On PM Modi Over Pollution And Stubble Burning, Writes An Emotional Letter

In his letter to PM, Singh underlined the need for evolving a consensus on tackling the issue, rising above political affiliations and regional considerations.

New Delhi: Amid the rising pollution levels in Delhi for the fifth consecutive day, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday wrote an emotional letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing deep anguish and anger at the unprecedented situation triggered by the growing air pollution in the national capital. In his letter to PM, Singh underlined the need for evolving a consensus on tackling the issue, rising above political affiliations and regional considerations. "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," the Punjab CM wrote. “I am not writing this to brush my hands off Punjab’s responsibility in this state of affairs. We are to blame but so is rest of country, including Delhi and your govt,” Singh said in his letter adding that the national capital is reeling under misery as the governments pass the buck. 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?" he asked. Watch | Amrinder Singh writes to PM Modi over Pollution Admitting that stubble fires, supported by the winds blowing in the wrong direction, were contributing to the toxic levels of air pollution that prevail today in Delhi, the Chief Minister, at the same time, noted that 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. But Amarinder Singh took no solace from this data. Nor could this blame game help any of them to "assuage our own guilt in a matter of such serious national consequence", he said. "The harsh truth is that while all of us are busy conveniently passing the buck to one another, Delhi's people are reeling under excruciating misery, and are facing one of the worse ever health disasters in the nation's, possibly the world's, history," he wrote. Observing that "the situation continues to aggravate while we all play ball over the people's pain and grief," the Chief Minister 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". "The solutions each one of us, the so-called stakeholders, have been proffering from time to time are but knee-jerk interventions that translate into nothing more than a case of 'too little, too late' every time (sic)," he said. The Chief Minister further wrote that Punjab had tried to enforce the law against stubble burning as much as possible, and was even penalising the farmers, "even though it goes against my conscience to punish a community that has suffered, and continues to suffer, at the hands of an ungrateful nation". But that, he added, "does not really deter the farmers from resorting to burning of the paddy straw to keep their pathetic margins from falling further." Delhi and Haryana, too, were doing what they could, in their own ways, he pointed out, but added that the role of the Centre had remained dubious in the whole affair, even though the central government was the biggest stakeholder of national prosperity. Amarinder Singh further wrote that he had expected the government of India "to have taken the matter in its able hands long back, to find a holistic solution to this grave problem". That, unfortunately, had not happened till date, despite even the Supreme Court expressing its concern on the rapidly deteriorating situation, he lamented. The Chief Minister recalled that he had personally suggested to the Prime Minister and other union ministers, on several occasions, a separate bonus amount of Rs 100 per quintal to facilitate stubble management by the farmers. "Perhaps your government does not feel that is the right solution, which would explain its failure to respond positively to my request," he added. But then, asked the Chief Minister, "what is that solution that can end this grave problem once and for all?" "Is it not your government's task, Mr Prime Minister, to search for that permanent solution, in consultation with all the other stakeholders, including Punjab, Delhi and Haryana?" he further went on to say. Stressing the need for the Centre's urgent intervention, the Chief Minister concluded, in his letter, "After all, what is at stake goes way beyond our petty political ambitions." (with inputs from IANS)