Fresh notices issued to 141 Patiala dairy units to shift, despite CM’s halt directive

Patiala The process of shifting dairies to outside the city, hanging fire for 17 years, has run into a fresh controversy. The Patiala municipal corporation (MC) is issuing notices to dairy owners to shift business to the new location, a 21-acre site at Ablowal village, even as Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had asked the then deputy commissioner, Kumar Amit, to halt the process on October 2. This was after a delegation of dairy owners met Channi, highlighting their concerns.

The presence of dairies within city limits has lead to frequent choking of sewers and resultant water-logging in Patiala. The project to shift them was initiated in 2003, but it gathered pace only after former CM Captain Amarinder Singh provided funds in 2017. In the first phase, of 257 dairies, 141 are to be shifted. The MC had set September 30 as the deadline for these units.

Patiala mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu said notices will be served to these units over the next week and owners have been given a week to shift.

“Since Channi’s directive, we have presented our case before the state government and briefed them that all facilities will be provided to owners. If any the dairy owner fails to shift their business within the stipulated time, the criminal action will be initiated,” the mayor added.

Dairy owners claimed that the MC has failed to provide proper road network, water supply connections, sewage treatment plant and other requirements before shifting the dairy owners. The site is without a biogas plant, sewage treatment plant and veterinary hospital, as proposed under the ₹17-crore project. The dairy owners also complained that they are being offered a 150 square yard plot, which is small and is not adequate to run their units.

Patiala MC commissioner Punamdeep Kaur said they had listed out the facilities and arrangements made for shifting of the dairies before the deputy commissioner, who will now take final call. “We have no choice than to serve notices to dairy owners as the civic body has spent nearly ₹17 crore on the project. We are providing all necessities as promised in Phase I. Allied facilities will be provided in Phase II,” she said.