‘Ki Chaiche Bangla?’ – From Clean Air to Safe Cycle Lanes

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  • Published in: CASC
  • 2nd April, 2021
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Bengal has seen the worst ever air quality in the last couple of years. The State has seen about 11 times more deaths due to air pollution in the year 2019 than COVID-19 deaths in 2020 which cost the economy about 2125.3 million US dollars. Taking action ahead of the curve, Bengal Clean Air Network (BengalCAN), a network of several key stakeholders concerned about the degrading quality of air in the State, came together to launch the Clean Air Manifesto 2021-26, an online petition started at change.org, urging all political parties contesting for Bengal elections to commit to at least 30% reduction in pollution levels by 2024 from the 2017 level as per the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) targets. 

The Manifesto was drafted after taking expert suggestions and inputs from leading environmental experts in Bengal, NGOs and conscious civil society organisations. Largely, the manifesto demanded a couple of action steps from the political parties ranging from integrated waste management, ecological regeneration to transforming the mobility sector by incorporating safe cycling and electric vehicles in the current fleet.

The manifesto received an overwhelming response from over 8000 citizens, youth groups, NGOs, green activists coming from across the State. The manifesto was also followed up with rigorous meetings with the manifesto making committees of several national political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Indian National Congress (INC) and Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPIM).

The results of our months long campaigning and arduous follow-up with political parties have been very positive and encouraging.  All political parties in Bengal have recognised air pollution as an important problem which requires immediate mitigation measures.

CPIM’s manifesto  – 

The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) have incorporated reduction in vehicular emissions in their manifesto alongside environment protection and conservation. This has not been covered in their previous manifestos.

Bengal CAN Team reached out to Shri Mridul De – CPIM Central Committee member – The Left Front’s election manifesto will focus on environmental protection and scientific awareness building in response to citizen’s demand for clean air as has been campaigned by BengalCAN. 

BJP manifesto –  “Ebar Fighting Pollution”

The BJP manifesto has gone a step ahead by detailing a couple of action steps for clean air mitigation. 

Targeting all major sources of emissions to substantially reduce them to acceptable levels in the state.
Identification of 10 districts with the worst AQI and reduction of emissions and pollution by at least 25% by the year 2024.
Establishment of 10 smog towers in the city of Kolkata to combat air pollution.
Investment of 1,500 crores for Clean Kolkata Mission.
Launching feet of AC low floor buses and increasing the number of current buses to 3000. 

Pratap Banerjee, Vice President, West Bengal of Bharatiya Janata Party mentioned that the party will be getting technical experts to give valuable inputs and bringing advanced technological solutions for clean air mitigation. We have set clear plans so that in the years down the line Bengal can be labelled as the best state in terms of air quality.

TMC manifesto –

Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not make any mention of air pollution abatement or any environment in their manifesto, neither this year nor in the manifesto from the 2016 elections. Although the manifesto mentions water conservation, access to electricity, better roads and livelihood opportunities, no attention has been particularly given to air pollution reduction or environment conservation.

Bengal CAN Team reached out to Senior leaders of TMC and they said the following -Shri Firhad Hakim, Minister of Urban Affair – Air pollution is indeed a cause of concern and unless the air quality of Bengal is improved, we are in a grave position. We are taking serious planning and discussion on Environment and Air pollution, with special emphasis on urban forests. Regarding cycle lanes, Firhad Hakim said that specialists from France have visited Kolkata and concluded that narrow lanes are not suitable for cycle lanes but areas like New Town are suitable for construction of cycle lanes and are already in the process of doing so.

Shri Partha Chatterjee, Minister of Education said that Air Pollution is an important table topic. Environment and air pollution are two such topics which are priority and our chief minister gives much importance to these discussions. In case of industrialization, emphasis would be given on environment friendly techniques of industrialization.

Congress Manifesto –

The Congress manifesto put emphasis on clean energy transition to mitigate for clean air. The party mentioned that the transportation system of the future will be electric driven. To reduce the use of charcoal stoves, ‘solar ovens’ will be given at subsidized prices. The party also mentions that it is important to encourage small projects / innovations to improve solid waste management in the city.

Joydeep Bhaduri, Elected Secretary, WBPYC (West Bengal Pradesh Youth Congress)

Elected Member, WBPCC (West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee) said that the party is committed to work towards Environment and Clean Air and promote cycles in Kolkata and other cities of the state. The party will be working to improve the air quality by 30% by 2024. It will also be taking steps to curb air pollution through mandatory waste segregation in all urban local bodies, increasing forest cover, and biodiversity corridors and  promoting environmental education

A one of a kind green activism in the State:

Kolkata, Haldia, Howrah and Durgapur have seen about 15 – 70% increase in the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the winter months as compared to the winter of last year. This clearly implies that the majority of Bengal’s pollution is local i.e., generated from vehicular or industrial emissions. Given the current pollution trends, Bengal is expected to experience a massive rebound in air pollution. We thank all political parties for acknowledging air pollution as a pressing problem and mentioning them in their political agendas. However, we are strongly requesting our political leaders to set stringent targets in pollution reduction and invest more on a post COVID-19 green recovery. We are urging our political leaders and parties to share with us Action Plans that include green action points to push forward a long term advocacy for environmental security and sustainable development.

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