Activists threaten to block effluent flow into Buddha Nullah on Dec 3
A group of environmentalists, retired bureaucrats, progressive farmers and social activists have threatened to launch a mass public movement against the widespread water pollution and forcibly stop the flow of effluents into the Buddha Nullah in Ludhiana on December 3.
A decision to this effect was taken at a joint discussion held to strategise the line of action to stop the rampant pollution in the Sutlej tributary, in Chandigarh.
They said the rising cancer incidence in the Malwa belt, the cancer train going from Bathinda to Bikaner and the spurt in other terrible diseases in villages along canals of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan were the outcome of the dirty acidic water being thrown into one of the oldest water body, Buddha Nullah, by hundreds of factories in Ludhiana.
Voicing concerns over the inaction on the part of present and successive governments and the enforcement agencies concerned, an environmentalist, Col Jasjit Gill (retd), who is spearheading a sustained campaign to free the Buddha Nullah of widespread pollution, said: “Earlier, the people of the city used to bathe in the clear water of the water body, which was Buddha Dariya, a tributary of the Sutlej, but these uncontrolled dyeing factories and other chemical industries kept dumping lakhs of litres of untreated water into it at various places along its entire length, especially in the municipal limits of Ludhiana, and this chemical cocktail kept mixing with the Sutlej, turning the dariya into the Buddha Nullah.”
He said the people of three states were suffering from innumerable diseases due to using this water for drinking and irrigation purposes.
“When the voice of the people suffering from the chemical assault for decades were not heard by successive governments, we approached the NGT and the Punjab Pollution Control Board,” said Kuldeep Singh Khaira, one of the founder members of an NGO, ‘Kale Pani Da Morcha’, which was waging a war on water pollution.
He said despite the NGT banning the discharge of dirty water into the water body without cleaning it, the untreated water remains flowing into the nullah without any check.
“After mobilising the people, now the ‘Kale Pani Da Morcha’ has decided to stop the chemical-laden polluted water by holding a large public gathering at the point of Tajpur on December 3,” said actor-cum-activist Amitoj Mann.
Participating in a special meeting of the Kirti Kisan Forum, the environmentalists and activists apprised forum members about the situation in detail and asked for their support. Former union health secretary Swaran Singh Boparai and former Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh, who were also present, decided to fully support the front.
The gathering also expressed concern over the paddy glut in mandis of the state due to tardy purchase.
They urged the state government that instead of sprinkling salt on the wounds of farmers, paddy should be purchased on time and necessary arrangements should be worked out with the Union Government for issues related with its lifting, which have assumed alarming proportions.
Kuljit Singh Sidhu, MS Chahal, Kulbir Singh Sidhu, Gurbir Singh Sandhu, GK Singh Dhaliwal, GS Pandher (all retired IAS officers), Brig MS Dulat (retd), Brig Indermohan Singh (retd), Karamjit Singh Sra, Col Malvinder Singh (retd), Parvinder Singh Waraich, Dharam Dutt Tarnaich and Jarnail Singh were among those others who were present.
