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Ludhiana: Activists urge residents to join Dec 3 protest to shut dyeing units’ CETPs
Activists claimed that the plants carried around 9 crore litres of toxic water into the nullah, which then merges into the Sutlej river, a little ahead of the city, polluting all of southern Malwa and northern Rajasthan which draw water from the river
Kale Pani Da Morcha activists have urged the residents to join their protest at Verka Chowk for a march to Tajpur Road on December 3 against the dyeing units dumping waste into the Buddah Nullah. Addressing mediapersons here, they reiterated that they would shut both the common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) at Tajpur Road during their December 3 protest.
They claimed that the plants carried around 9 crore litres of toxic water into the nullah, which then merges into the Sutlej river, a little ahead of the city, polluting all of southern Malwa and northern Rajasthan which draw water from the river.
Activist Amitoj Mann, who is one of the leaders of the morcha, said, “The constitutional bodies have directed the government to stop this pollution, but there has been no action despite repeated petitions.”
The morcha had earlier staged a protest on August 24 and planned to shutting the dying units’ clusters on September 15. “But the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) told us they were going to take action. So we put our move on hold, but it has been over two months now and there seems to be no action in the offing,” said Mann.
“We will assemble here at Verka Chowk and march towards the Tajpur Road and Focal Point to shut the clusters,” he said. He said that people from Rajasthan and other states would also join the protest.
Activist Kuldeep Singh Khaira said the PPCB had given it in writing to the NGT that the waste shouldn’t be dumped into the nullah.
PPCB chief engineer RK Ratra said they had asked the CETPs not to dump their treated waste into the nullah, but the Punjab Dyers’ Association (PDA) moved the NGT regarding the issue and the NGT has asked the PPCB to not take any “coercive action” until the next hearing, which is December 2.
Meanwhile, PDA president Kamal Chauhan questioned who gave the morcha the authority to shut the plants. He said the PPCB had served them a notice to stop dumping the CETP waste into the nullah on September 26, but “we have challenged it in the NGT and the next hearing is on December 2.” He was hopeful that NGT would rule in their favour.
He said the treatment plants were installed at an expense of ₹250 crore with the permission of the state and central governments. “All the registered dyeing units manage their waste as per rules to ensure that the residue flowing out into the nullah is not toxic. We are doing everything as per the rules,” he added.
Regarding the December 3 protest, he said that if such a protest takes place, “we will gather one lakh businessmen to stop them.”
