Provide necessary facilities to dairy farmers before shifting them, CM Channi tells Patiala admn

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 1

Milk dairies of Patiala city will now be shifted to the new dairy shifting site of Ablowal village only after all necessary facilities as per the Municipal Corporation act are provided. The directions were issued by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to the Patiala Deputy Commissioner in a late-night development on Thursday after a meeting with dairy farmers of the city in Chandigarh.

The dairy farmers, as per orders of the Municipal Corporation, Patiala, were supposed to shift to the new site by September 30. The Corporation was also devising a plan to ensure compliance of its orders after over a month-long spree of issuing challans to them for various violations, including dumping waste into the city’s sewerage lines and others.

In a video, the Chief Minister can be heard directing an official on the phone that the dairy farmers be shifted to the new site only after the access road and internal roads are proper along with facilities, including water supply and others.

On the request of the dairy farmers, he said, “The Patiala mayor says the dairies will be evicted forcibly, but that should not be allowed. The needs of the dairy farmers should be taken into account,” he said.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit said he had received the verbal order from the Chief Minister in a late-night phone call. “We have been directed to provide all basic facilities to the dairy farmers at the site before shifting them. As such, all facilities will be provided to the dairy farmers as per the Municipal Corporation act.”

The Deputy Commissioner also held a meeting with the dairy farmers on Friday morning. He said, “A meeting with officials concerned with the project will be held soon and lapses, if any, will be dealt with.”

The project: Apart from being a necessary project of the city to ensure proper clearance of the city’s sewerage system that remains clogged during rains, the dairy shifting project is also twined with political turns of Patiala. It has been hanging fire since 2004 after it was first announced by then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. It was cleared during the government of Shiromani Akali Dal in 2016, but was mooted after the local government department decided to make amendments to the plan after the Congress came to power in 2017.  The work at the site started only in 2020. While the roads and sewerage connections have been provided, other facilities as per devised plan of the Corporation are yet to be completed. Local SAD leaders recently raised questions on alleged lapses on part of the Corporation.