Ludhiana: MC officials intervene, stop work after residents complain of waste being dumped into sewerage line linked to Buddha Nullah
Even as authorities are clamping down on direct disposal of waste into the Buddha Nullah, workers cleaning sewerage lines in Civil City and Sandhu Nagar were found dumping toxic waste into the sewerage line in Chander Nagar area that leads to the city’s main drain
Even as authorities are clamping down on direct disposal of waste into the Buddha Nullah, workers cleaning sewerage lines in Civil City and Sandhu Nagar were found dumping toxic waste into the sewerage line in Chander Nagar area that leads to the city’s main drain. After residents of the area took a video and sent it to senior officials of MC, the work was stopped.
Kanwar Jatinder Singh Bajwa, a resident of Deep Nagar, said employees of the contractor hired by MC were collecting waste through super succession machines and dumping it in the sewerage line through a manhole, metres away from the Buddha Nullah.
He added that the road cave in on Buddha Nullah Road in Chander Nagar a few days ago was due to the dumping of waste.
The incident came to light close on the heels of a recent meeting of the monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with officials of district administration, civic body and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). The monitoring committee had observed that chief minister Bhagwant Mann had expressed his desire to bathe in the Buddha Nullah and the onus was on the authorities to fulfil his wish.
Superintending engineer (SE) Ravinder Garg said he will look into the matter and strict action will be taken.
Meanwhile, the direct dumping waste has not gone down well with members of the Public Action Committee (PAC) for Sutlej and Mattewara.
PAC member Kapil Arora, said, “The sewerage system usually gets blocked due to plastic, metals and other non-soluble waste, which is cleared using super suction machines. However, MC is dumping the collected waste into other manholes, which is also a malpractice, as it may block that sewerage line too. Further, since the sewerage lines are connected to Buddha Dariya (Nullah), it is in violation of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Such waste should instead be dumped at a designated site.”
Another PAC member Kuldeep Singh Khaira, said, “One can imagine the sorry state of affairs when those who are responsible for upholding the law are involved in violation. It is however encouraging that local residents have taken the onus to highlight the issue.”
Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Anshul Garcha said the entire cleaning exercise was closely monitored. “We received calls from area residents who were complaining that silt was being dumped in the nullah. But, we checked records and found it was only sewage water. In some areas, due narrow streets, the team could not plug both ends of the sewerage line with a suction machine due to which sewage water (not silt) was released into the sewerage. When the matter was brought to our notice, we told the team to stop the activity and asked the contractor to dump both untreated water and silt at the designated sites. Any action will be taken as per directions of the authorities.”
Despite repeated attempts, area councillor Baljinder Singh Sandhu was not available for comments.
