Punjab Elections Screwed The Delhi Air And No One Is Talking About That

While the Delhi'ites are reeling under poisonous pollution, and the authorities are scratching their heads to find out ways to curb pollution, there is a lot that has been lost. In the current scenario, it seems, politics has come before an honest public policy. Leaders in Delhi are eyeing the polls in Punjab, while leaving common men in the lurch.

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All parties including Congress, BJP and Aam Admi Party, passed the buck on farmers for colossal levels of pollution in Delhi. But when same set of leaders went to Punjab, none talked about it because they feared of losing the farmer votes.

While Congress announced a loan waiver for the farmers along with several other promises, BJP and AAP to had long list of promises ready to garner votes.

NASA

¡°Rest assured that you would not have to worry about any of your loans. With Rs 35,000 crore of the total rural indebtedness in the state contributed by farm debts, this is an issue of serious concern not only for the state but also the Central government,¡± Cnngress leader Captain Amarinder Singh was quoted in Chandigarh Tribune.

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Though SAD-BJP alliance is facing anti-incumbency conundrums, Badals too are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters and they neither want to talk about pollution nor they wanna effectively implement to orders to Punjab and Haryana High Court to ban crop burning.

Despite the court calling for ban, several fire spots have been noticed from satellite imaginary which show the massive crop burning is going on various districts of Punjab. In fact, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) doesn't even make the data of ambient air quality public.

BCCL

Apart from talking about Punjabi Suba, which if happens would further divide Punjab for the third time after portion of 1947 and 1966 when Haryana was carved out of Punjab, Badals has made several other promises minus the promise to contain pollution.

Badals, while anticipate a possible end for their 10 year old rule have gone back to age rhetoric of not giving water to Haryana while making it a matter of Punjab's pride.

"Even if Haryana adopts any kind of a resolution, we will not allow a drop of our water to flow into other states. Punjab¡¯s economy is agri-based and it cannot afford to compromise on its waters which are the lifeline of agriculture,¡± deputy CM, Sukhbir Badal was quoted in The Tribune.

BCCL

While Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal recently blamed farmers in Punjab and Haryana for turning Delhi into gas chambers, he didn't utter single word about pollution and straw burning when he camped in Punjab in the last leg of October.

Kejriwal, much like SAD and Congress, played on rhetoric and promises to woo voters. Apart from making Punjab drug free, Kejriwal promised a 10-year tax holiday for agro-based food processing industries in Punjab.

"A 10-year tax holiday for Agro-based food processing and other industries, interest-free loans for agro-units employing at least 80 per cent workforce from Punjab," AAP manifesto reads.

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Crop still rampant in Haryana

According to the story Published in The Tribune, The Haryana Space Application Research (HARSAC), which has compiled the data for a month, stated that a total of 8,859 active fire locations had been detected through satellite from October 7 to November 7.

The highest number of fire locations had been recorded in Fatehabad district (2,536), followed by Kaithal (1,299), Karnal (1,272), Sirsa (1,056) and Kurukshetra (805). These districts are known as the paddy belt.

Till as late as November 7, satellite images spotted a total of 976 fire spots in paddy stubble spotted across the state. The districts like Fatehabad, Jind, Sirsa, and Hisar are major areas where farmers are burning paddy stubble.

Fatehabad has recorded a massive 2,536 fire locations in last one month.