UPA government fails to check indiscriminate use of pesticides: Harsimrat Badal

New Delhi/Chandigarh, March 18, 2013: Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Member Parliament from Bathinda today in Lok Sabha strongly raised the most serious and sensitive issue of using pesticides indiscriminately and its fatal affects on thousands of lives in Malwa region and demanded the strictly implementation of guidelines of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers at ground level to save the lives as well as the agri-lands from pesticides pollution.

During Zero Hour, Mrs. Badal produced detailed studies and facts harming the Malwa belt of Punjab with the utmost affect of pesticides, which were being used by the farmers to garner the high-yield of crops. She said that this pollution was not only harmful to human beings but too our eco system.

Accusing the ill-managed agri relating policies of Union Ministries, Badal said that due to meager increase in Minimum Support Price in every season, the farmers of the country were forced to use the pesticides its maximum to produce high-yield of their crops resulting 90 percent of pesticides were got mixed in the solid and water besides contaminating the water circle of the various affected areas. She said that no check and control over the indiscriminate use of pesticides was leading to hazardous problems in our health systems. 

She said that the studies conducted by Punjab Agriculture University and other organisations in Malwa regions had proved that unjudicious use of pesticides was also one of the reason behind increasing numbers of cancer in this belt. She also said that the rising cases of victims of various diseases were exposing that, obviously, there was no body and no authority, which was looking into the indiscriminate use and harmful effects of these pesticides on thousands of lives and our eco system. She also asked the Speaker that if there was a Body or plan to look into this most sensitive issue of Punjab’s Malwa belt, it means it was not being implemented the way it needs to be implemented.

Lashing out at Union Ministries for their sheer failure on this issue, Badal asked the Union government did they ever plan to have any dedicated body to look into this and strict implementation of laws, which could create awareness at ground level to educate the farmers about the side-affects of the unjudicious use of pesticides. She also demanded the implementation of plan or scheme made by Union Government in true spirit to save thousands of lives and eco-system from the pesticide pollution.

Describing the plight of people in Malwa belt, she said that in this specific area of the state content of pesticides had been found in the blood samples of the farmers, which were highest in the world besides finding uranium contents in the hairs of children. She said that flora and fauna along our entire eco system was being harmed through this practice of pesticides.

Quoting the study of Punjab Agriculture University, she said that the PAU had collected food samples in the Malwa region and out of total 162 vegetable samples, residues over the permissible limit were found in 5. She said that it was not the Ministry of Environment, who was responsible for this, it was something that was concerned with the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilisers and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. She said that Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers should strictly monitor those pesticides, which were allowed to be registered and used in the country.

She also accused the Union Minister Jayanti Natrajan for her comments that the situation was not as alarming as sounded by Bathinda Member Parliament and said that the limitless use of pesticides produces cancer in the state. she said that it was a known fact that national average of cancer were 100 cases on per lakh population while only in Bathinda Constituency it was 134 cases.