Politicians across the spectrum in poll-bound West Bengal stood on the same page with environmentalists, admitting that critical environmental, climate change, and linked health issues do not get enough space and priority in the manifestos of any political party. But they sought to portray developmental challenges as the key reason behind the trend.
Environmentalists and health experts, however, blamed policy failure, lack of political will and prioritisation as well as corruption as the key drivers behind the trend.
On March 28, a group of organisations including The Plurals, the Bengal environment Journalists Platform and non-profit Environment Governed Integrated Organisation organised a meeting called ‘Politics meets Paribesh’ in Kolkata press club. It was attended by prominent political personalities of the state as well as more than 50 environment and health experts from various parts of the state. Senior journalists also participated in the meeting.
Air pollution in both urban and rural areas forcing reduction in life spans and health problems; climate change threat across West Bengal particularly in the Sundarbans, Kolkata and north Bengal; degradation and poor planning within rivers; push for chemicals and fertilisers in agricultural practices; noise pollution including rampant violations regarding fireworks and DJs; ground water depletion mainly due to illegal water extraction; waste management; and above all, a tendency of the administration to go slow on environmental violations were flagged of as key concerns by activists.
“We have collected all opinions and will soon send a demand charter to all political parties,” said Dulal Bose, a physician, former sheriff of Kolkata and president of EnGIO post the meeting.
“It’s a fact that environment and linked health issues are yet to receive the attention in the manifesto of political parties that it deserves. But our party the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has made significant strides in this respect over the last 15 years. In this year’s manifesto, we listed key issues from stopping Ganga erosion, more mangrove plantation to promotion of solar,” said Debasis Kumar, a member of the legislative assembly and TMC leader.
Kumar however accepted that the dredging of canals, an important task for drainage, could not be done fully but sought to lob the responsibility back to previous Left regime by claiming the illegal settlements allowed on canal banks during that era as the spoiler.
“Left politics always supports environmental agendas,” countered state Communist Party of India (Marxist) Secretary Mohammed Salim, former Member of Parliament (MP). He blamed both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government and TMC-led state government for gross environmental violation. “On one hand, the Union government is not doing anything effective to save the Ganga. On the other side, the state government is discontinuing trams and penalising people for using cycles when both are promoted elsewhere in the world for countering climate change,” pointed out Salim. Manoj Bhattacharya, a senior leader from RSP, another Left party, blamed the Narendra Modi-led Union government for inadequate climate action and the state for undertaking the environmentally risky Deucha Panchami coal mine project in Birbhum, apart from indifference to river conservation.
Pradip Bhattacharya from the Congress accepted that environment violators are quite powerful and admitted actions are often not taken against them despite judicial orders. Jawhar Sircar, retired bureaucrat and former TMC MP, elaborated how the noise violations and water body filling has become rampant in the state and underlined the threat to the Sundarbans. “A green demand charter should go to all political parties before the election so that they can influence their campaign; and then it needs to be followed up after the election with the new government,” said Sircar.
Omprakash Mishra, an international relations professor, observed that a lack of dependence on science and too much technology is proving to be the undoing. “It is easy to hold political parties responsible. But the more important task is to probe the real reasons.”
Sovandeb Chattapadhyay, senior TMC leader and minister, said political parties and leaders should work unitedly to counter environmental and climatic hazards. “However, I must confess that it is easier said than done. In a country like ours, you need infrastructure development and this is bound to bring pressure on your natural resources, your environment,” added Chattopadhyay.
Sankar Ghosh of BJP, a candidate in Siliguri, held the ruling TMC responsible for a range of environmental violations in north Bengal.
Malay Tiwari of CPI (ML) flagged off the ordeal of the people linked to highly polluted waste management.
Subhas Datta, an enviro-legal activist, pointed out that none of the political parties give any importance to environmental issues as pitching for them does not bring any votes. “It is not at all a subject of importance for political parties which gets reflected in their manifesto,” added Datta. He said that even the Election Commission (EC) hardly gives credence to environmental issues.
“I have written several letters to the EC, political parties and other authorities to see that the green norms get followed during their campaign; but apart from one party, none responded,” observed Biswajit Mukherjee, former chief law officer of the state environment department, and a winner of the Union government award for exemplary environmental action as an official and activist. He also highlighted the blatant violation of noise as well as plastic pollution as key areas of political failures.
Arup Haldar, a frontline pulmonologist, highlighted the need to prioritise action on air pollution inflicted health problems as well as turning the recently drafted Kolkata Climate Action Plan, a process where he is a member of, into action on the ground with fund support. “Every time the election comes, political parties make several promises in their manifesto including on environment and health, though less compared to other highlighted ones. It is important to audit those manifestos and pinpoint what exactly has happened with those promises,” said Haldar.
The sorry state of rivers, agricultural issues and linked ground water problems also came up as key demands.
“Rivers are in a sorry state. Most rivers in north Bengal are affected by pollution, encroachment, violations and climatic impacts affecting biodiversity and livelihoods of local people; but hardly any political party seems to be bothered,” said Animesh Bose, an environmentalist from north Bengal-based non-profit HNAF. Tuhin Suvra Mondal, another river activist from Dinajpur, urged political parties to focus on the Atreyee river which is reportedly affected due to reduced water coming from Bangladesh.
“Hardly any water from Gangotri reaches Gangasagar due to innumerable structural interventions in between; political parties should prioritise the issues and also follow evidence-based policy,” said Tapas Das, a river activist, referring to the Kolkata municipality’s proposed barrage on the Adi Ganga, at the point it enters Kolkata, as an example of poor anti-environment planning.
Ena Roy, a professor in Calcutta University, also underlined the need to look at the environmental issues of the Adi Ganga, ‘Tolly’s Nullah’ in government parlance, closely as it plays a pivotal role in the drainage and linked environmental issues of Kolkata.
Anupam Pal, an agricultural expert, pointed out how the rapid surge of pesticide use is killing the fertility of the land as well as making food toxic; he also referred to the danger of genetically modified crops in West Bengal.
Biswajit Mahakur, from the Sundarbans, pointed out how the illegal withdrawing and selling of ground water by a range of people, is putting the entire Subndarbans into an existential crisis. “I read in the newspapers that the lack of LPG, as a fallout of war in West Asia, is affecting the reparation of mid-day meals; however, in Basanti, since quite some time, the production of mid-day meals has been seriously affected due to lack of water as the ground water level has been plummeting sharply due to its widespread illegal withdrawal,” said Mahakur.
“Of late, there has been a surge for planting mangroves. While mangroves are key for the security of the Sundarbans and also south Bengal including Kolkata, as sons of the soil we know that mangroves need not be planted; they grow naturally. Actually, there is a huge corruption linked with this mangrove plantation and political parties should be aware of it,” said Sukumar Paira, who works in the Sundarbans.
Nairwita Bandapadhyay, a geographer, urged the politicians to give importance to the early warning system at community level while Mahalaya Chatterjee, who specialises in urban environment, demanded environment-centric urban planning.