Kale Pani Da Morcha activists meet Punjab Governor over Buddha Dariya pollution issue

LUDHIANA: The activists from Kale Pani Da Morcha conducted a meeting with Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Tuesday in Chandigarh and demanded his intervention in making Buddha Dariya pollution-free. They have requested the governor to visit Buddha Dariya, sewage treatment plants, and common effluent treatment plants to see ground situation. The activists claimed that the governor has assured to take up this issue with CM Bhagwant Mann as he is going to take a meeting with him in the coming days.


The activists also gave a memorandum to the governor in which they mentioned that Kale Pani Da Morcha is a group of activists and a large number of NGOs working for reversing toxic pollution of rivers of Punjab. It is a well-known fact that the Rivers of Punjab are severely polluted and out of which the condition of Buddha Dariya is the worst and has become an icon of water pollution in North India. It is very unfortunately a direct drinking water source for a large number of districts of Punjab and Rajasthan.


In the memorandum it is mentioned that a lot of illegal effluent dumping points of industries as well as those of urban local bodies and dairies exist in the state that dump toxic waste into the drain by going against the law but the concerned authorities have failed to stop them despite mandatory condition of Environment Clearance and Water Act of 1974.


They claimed that despite provisions of Water Act of 1974, directions of Supreme Court for zero liquid discharge, environment compensation restrictive condition, orders of Central Pollution Control Board and Punjab Pollution Control Board, the three CETPs of the dyeing industry at Ludhiana are operating in an illegal manner and brazenly dumping their effluent into Buddha Dariya and now since more than 12 years have passed, the polluting industries should be immediately shut down till they comply with mandatory conditions of Water Act and EC.


The activists requested the governor to impress upon the state government to comply with law of land and immediately pause all polluting industries, CETPs etc till they comply with the letter and the spirit of the law. They invited the governor to visit CETPs near Central Jail, Tajpur Road Ludhiana to see the factual condition of Buddha Dariya being polluted by discharging nine crore litres of effluent per day in an illegal manner in active connivance with the officials of PPCB. They also invited him to visit village Walipur to see with his own eyes how Buddha Dariya mixes into the Sutlej to wreak havoc in the lives of millions in Punjab and Rajasthan resulting into deadly diseases like Cancer, Hepatitis, Skin Diseases etc. to citizens, animals as well as endangering the aquatic life. They demanded strong action against officials of PPCB who have allowed such pollution to go on in the last one decade.