28 Sep 2019
Global Strike: Ludhiana Protests Against Climate Change
Ludhiana students came on the streets to protest against the climate crisis. Hundreds of young children, along with their teachers and parents, social activists from various organizations gathered for a peaceful demonstration to highlight the crisis and government’s inaction. The youngsters carried banners along with them and raised slogans like ‘Help me, I can’t breathe’; […]

Ludhiana students came on the streets to protest against the climate crisis. Hundreds of young children, along with their teachers and parents, social activists from various organizations gathered for a peaceful demonstration to highlight the crisis and government’s inaction.

The youngsters carried banners along with them and raised slogans like ‘Help me, I can’t breathe’; “Punjab di raza, saaf hava saaf hava!” and “dhooyen te layiye sensor ji, jarron mukayie cancer ji.”

Major talking points during the strike were:

• Punjab burns 2 crore tonnes of stubble and
• 1.36 crore tonnes of coal every year
• 87400 asthmatic patients in a year
• 400 trucks of coal in one hour
• 2 Crore tonnes of stubble burnt in 40 days is equal to the annual coal burnt in a year
• 34,430 deaths due to cancer in the last five years

Disaster is approaching

My main point is that why do we have to get married and give birth to children when we know that they are going to live in a gas chamber? The disaster is approaching fast and our action is too slow.

Rattandeep from Aurobindo College expressed her concerned and said, “Greta Thunberg is an eye-opener for all of us. Saving the planet is now my personal concern for my future. I need a better forest cover in Punjab for my survival. I am worried about the government policy of offering 15 free saplings to each citizen and lacking any funds for the survival of the trees.”

Last year, Punjab recorded 44,000 paddy-straw burning incidents within 20 days of October. Though this year, till now, 117 cases of straw burning have been reported.

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own. Let Me Breathe neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)

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