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Textile park near Mattewara Forest scrapped: Meet green warriors who were at protest forefront
The core team of Public Action Committee (PAC), comprising eight members from various walks of life including engineers, dentists, ex-servicemen, industrialists and agriculturists, faced multiple hurdles during the course of their two-year struggle to get the proposed textile park project at Koom Kalan village near the Mattewara forest in Ludhiana district.scrapped
The core team of Public Action Committee (PAC), comprising eight members from various walks of life including engineers, dentists, ex-servicemen, industrialists and agriculturists, faced multiple hurdles during the course of their two-year struggle to get the project scrapped.
The green warriors include Colonel CM Lakhanpal (retired), Kapil Arora, Jaskirat Singh, MS Sekhon, Dr Amandeep Singh Bains, Ranjodh Singh, Kuldeep Singh Khaira and MS Bawa. Senior advocate HC Arora later assisted them.
They had gone all out to get the project scrapped after the then Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh had in 2020 given it the green signal.
“Till then, each of us was raising various environmental issues individually. We were admirers of each other and making efforts to stop cutting of trees in and around the city. However, this project came as a jolt and could have had a catastrophic impact on the ecosystem. So, we decided to unite, as we were up against big corporates and industrialists backed by politicians and bureaucrats,” said social worker Kuldeep Singh Khaira.
Dr Amandeep Singh Bains said that the first meeting was called in 2020, soon after the project was proposed. “We called the first meeting in Punjabi Bhawan park and five to six people attended it. What followed was a two-year long struggle with more than 50 protests and meetings,” said Dr Bains.
“We were made to run from pillar to post from one office to another in Ludhiana to Chandigarh. The officials thought we will get exasperated and ultimately surrender. But, we did not take a back step. This would not have been possible without support of nature lovers of the state,” said Kapil Arora.
The NGT, during its last hearing on April 8, 2022, constituted a joint committee comprising officials from Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), Ludhiana district magistrate and divisional forest officer and asked for a “factual report within two months”.
In its report, NGT stated, “It is important that the ecology of the river’s flood plain zone does not get damaged permanently. Any construction activity, if allowed within the flood plain zone of Sutlej, shall be at the risk of the developer.”
The team continued their protest even during the assembly elections. The efforts bore fruit and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders used it as a poll issue to target the Congress government. As AAP registered a landslide victory, PAC members assumed that the project would be shelved, “But, to our utter shock, CM Bhagwant Mann’s move of backing the textile park again brought the controversial project into the spotlight. So, we decided to take on the AAP government. By now, we had the support of nature lovers from across the state. Politicians who were opposing the project also joined us,” said Khaira.
Kapil Arora said that the PAC will not end here. “We will press the government to increase green cover and set- up a biodiversity park in the acquired area to generate employment and revenue. Further, we will keep raising environmental issues, including that of increasing pollution levels in Buddha Nullah,” said Arora.
