After Green Deepawali Shimla needs a green Municipal Election: Former Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar
After green Deepawali Shimla needs to give a call of switching over to green election as the use of flax and non-biodegradable material should be strictly prohibited in the poll.
In the wake of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Election, CPI(M) former Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar said while interacting with media here today.
” We may have little response from the voters in terms of getting votes for CPI(M) but despite being a red we are giving a green message to save the State and capital town from the menace of civic pollution which need immediate attention.” Mr. Panwar state demanded Waste Audit in the township.
He said that a waste audit study being conducted by Ladakh Municipality had found that the eight biggest polluters are Multinationals including Nasle, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola.
He said that since Shimla MC is currently in mid of the poll He would appeal to not use flax in the town. He said that flax must be banned as it is the biggest polluter and dangerous non-biodegradable substance widely being used today.
” If we would get a chance to serve the people it would conduct a waste audit of town. He said that the blind following of the consultant town is becoming a heat island as the wrong quality of construction materials is being used in the town.
We should ensure that no party uses flax and other biodegradable material moreover canvassing all political parties should be done without using so many cars. He said that it is not difficult to canvass in a ward without cars moreover it is good for health.
Mr. Panwar said that CPIM) also released the first mobility plan which showed that the town needs serious efforts to reduce the number of cars and increase the car passengers ratio which was found one in the town.
He said that it would not be possible to allow cars of more than 40,000 to 50,000 in a day given the car the passenger ratio needs serious efforts to improve the traffic in Shimla.
Mr. Tekinder Panwar said that town did not have enough snowfall this year and climatic change must be addressed by adopting green planning rather than relying on people outside the state to buy their ideas that didn’t fit and were suitable for hills.
He said that towns were built by Britishers not for playing with cars but to walk on foot but the way money is spent recklessly on concretization and building heavy iron structures would ruin hill ecology.
“Previous BJP Government didn’t allow the City government to function as independent elected body as Smart City funds created havoc by relentless concreting of the town to help builder mafia.” Mr. Panwar said that they did not fight for the Smart City project for making its environment disastrous.
Smart City funds were misutilized for putting flowers pots under Deodar and Oak forest in the town, he said taking jib on the former BJP government stating that we need consultants from outside as local wisdom must prevail on how Shimla should be developed to preserve its environment and beauty.
He said that the town didn’t need conventional construction materials to rebuild the one hundred and fifty years old Town but all old construction which is in shambles should be retrofitted.
Accusing the previous BJP rule to miss utilizing World Bank funds he said that construction materials being used amount to criminal actions as it is against the construction code inherited by Shimla since Britishers.
He said that according to a study conducted by former CPI(M) City govt, it was found that as many as 70000 People would die in a day or 15000 at night if the town was struck by schedule 5 and 6 earthquakes.