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Save water: Women lead protest outside Trident unit on Day 3
Women protesters took the centre stage as the ongoing stir outside Trident Group’s biggest unit at Dhaula village in Barnala entered the third day on Saturday
Women protesters took the centre stage as the ongoing stir outside Trident Group’s biggest unit at Dhaula village in Barnala entered the third day on Saturday.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) is holding a five-day statewide agitation, “save water, save environment”, to put the spotlight on contamination of water bodies due to industrial effluents. Besides Barnala, protests are being held at 15 sites in various districts, including Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Amritsar and Jalandhar.
Addressing hundreds of women gathered at Dhaula, senior union leader Parmjeet Kaur Pitho alleged that foul smell emanating from groundwater in the area adjoining the industrial unit was making life difficult for the people.
Karmjeet Kaur, another leader, said that while political parties in Punjab are raising a hue and cry to stop the state’s waters from going to Haryana and Rajasthan, “they are mute against the corporate houses, who are occupying the water, a natural resource”.
Trident, which is among the biggest textile groups in the state, has categorically denied the union’s allegations that it is using groundwater in its unit and contaminating it with effluents.
Meanwhile, the Public Action Committee (PAC), which had earlier led the protest against the now-scrapped textile park project near Matterwara forest, extended its support to the BKU’s agitation on Saturday.
Participating in a dharna on the banks of Buddha Nullah in Ludhiana, PAC member Kuldeep Khaira also appealed to other NGOs and environmentalists to raise their voice against pollution of water bodies and gather at the protest site on July 25.
