Dyeing units shut for two days, industry suffers

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 8

Dyeing units in Ludhiana are shut for two days — today and tomorrow — on orders issued by the district administration as samples are to be collected from the Buddha Nullah for submitting a report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by August 14. About 320 dyeing units will not be operational for the two days.

It has cast a shadow on the ancillary industries as manufacturers feel that if the cloth was not dyed, the orders will be delayed as the entire chain gets disturbed.

Talking to The Tribune, Bobby Jindal from the Punjab Dyers Association said the entire dyeing industry had installed Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) to treat water. The scattered dyeing units are the culprit, having no CETP plant, and putting the entire pollutants into the MC sewerage directly. “Action should be taken against the scattered units which may not be over 30-35. But for a few, we all are suffering and bearing losses as today and tomorrow, there will be no work in the factories,” said Jindal.

Another dyeing unit owner in Focal Point said samples would be collected from the Buddha Nullah for two days to check if there was any change on days when dyeing units were not discharging waste into sewers or into any CETP plants. “We accommodate every time but because of a few black sheep, we too are made to suffer,” rued an industrialist.

Contamination of the Buddha Nullah has become a major issue again as many social organisations, environmentalists and celebrities have joined hands to address the issue. Because of the problem, the entire belt which water bodies pass through, suffers from some disease or the other.