Nawanshahr residents take out protest march over ash from power plant
Nawanshahr, January 9
The residents of the town, under the aegis of Lok Sangharsh Manch, took out a massive protest march on the roads of Nawanshahr here today and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to press for a permanent solution to the chronic problem of ash emanating from the power plant.
“While the officials of the power plant have persistently been making hollow claims of getting the repair work done, the district administration continued to give false assurances to the people. The district administration, instead of making the reports of the Pollution Control Board public and initiating action, is trying to placate the protesting residents by constituting committees,” said Jasbir Deep, convenor of Lok Sangharsh Manch, while adding that the people had been facing health and sanitation hazards for long.
As the administration has not been taking concrete steps against the power plant officials, the residents have to resort to the agitation path, he added.
The protesters said that the stir would be intensified if the district administration continued to have an apathetic attitude towards public grievances.
The District Bar Association also joined in the protest. Paramjit Singh Bakshi, its president, said the DBA has also been mulling legal remedies against the power plant for causing inconvenience to the public.
“The power plant officials have not only been making hollow claims but also using cane growers as shield by saying that if the power plant is shut then the sugar mill will have to stop cane crushing as the power plant located on the mill premises is the only source of electricity for running it. However, this is not the reality, the sugar mill could be provided requisite power by the PSPCL,” said DBA office-bearers.
Among others present in the protest march were Kulwinder Warraich, MC president, Sachin Diwan, AAP municipal councillor and Halqa in-charge, Lalit Mohan Ballu, councillors Dr Kamaljit, Parveen Bhatia, Chet Ram Rattan, Ashwani Joshi, Gurcharan Arora and others.
