Haryana Assembly monsoon session: BJP MLA puts own govt in dock over air pollution
The MLA asked the Environment, Forests & Wildlife Minister for the air quality data in Dholera crushing zone in his constituency and whether the government has conducted any study on the impact of air pollution on the health of residents of the villages living nearby
3 min read
In March 2021 Haryana Assembly Session, Abhe Singh Yadav was awarded the best MLA award along with Varun Chaudhary from the Congress. (File photo) The opening day of the Haryana Assembly’s monsoon session Friday saw a ruling BJP MLA putting his own government in a spot over air pollution in his Nangal Chaudhary constituency, apparently caused by stone crushers.
BJP MLA Abhe Singh Yadav raised issue during the Question Hour and asked about the steps being taken by the government to prevent it.
The MLA asked the Environment, Forests & Wildlife Minister to give the air quality data in the Dholera crushing zone of the Nangal Chaudhary assembly segment during the last year and whether any study had been conducted in the affected area “on the impact of air pollution on the health of the citizens of surrounding villages”.
He also asked whether there is any proposal under consideration to install any special device to arrest the polluting dust in this area.
In his reply, Minister Kanwar Pal said the Haryana State Pollution Control Board monitors the ambient air quality of Narnaul through a Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station installed at the Mini Secretariat of district Mahendragarh. The board has also started monitoring the ambient air quality through a manual monitoring station at Dholera village of the constituency from July 2023 onward, he said.
The stone crusher owners and mining projects have been directed to regularly sprinkle water on the roads leading to stone crusher and mines, to suppress road dust, he said.
However, Yadav appeared dissatisfied on being told that water samples had also been collected from the area, and said, “Hon’ble minister had cited water samples that were taken from the area. How could the water samples help analysing the air pollution in the area?”
He asserted that it was the second time he is raising the same question on the floor of the House.
During the Question Hour, ruling JJP MLA Naina Singh Chautala, who is a legislator from Badhra, asked the government why tubewell connections that run on electricity had not been released for those farmers who were holding solar tubewell connections.
“Repeatedly, I had been requesting that the eligible farmers should be given tubewell connections.,” she said adding that tubewells with solar connections were unable to lift water as groundwater in her constituency had gone down considerably.
In reply, Minister Ranjit Singh said that new connections cannot be given because in areas where water level is below 100 feet, farmers should switch over to micro-irrigation.
You May Like
