Keeping Buddha Nullah clean, an arduous task

LUDHIANA: Even when the Central and state governments have sanctioned crores of rupees for the cleanliness of Buddha Nullah, regular addition of garbage into the water body by the residents, dairy owners and MC sewerage, makes sanitation more difficult task than it seems.
While on one hand, city residents continue to throw their waste into the waterbody, on the other, the administration, despite its tall claims has failed to punish those who throw filth into the nullah and make it dirty year round.
The administrative laxity has given a free-hand to people and this way, chances of the nullah ever getting cleaned are bleak, even if it gets rid of the industrial wastes.
Though, the PPCB and district administration often claim of punishing the defaulters who throw wastes in the nullah, sources in PPCB revealed that lack of stringent punishments for the culprits give people the reason to flout rules blatantly.
���A fine of just a few hundred rupees for polluting the nullah is not sufficient to deter people from indulging in the act,��� said an officer at PPCB, adding that in different instances more than 250 people have been challaned yet they had not stopped polluting the nullah.
Recently, the Central government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 50 crore for the purpose of cleaning Buddha Nullah and even the state government had earmarked Rs 50 crore for the water body. Further, even the municipal corporation spends lakhs every year on cleaning the 15 kilometre stretch of the total nullah that falls within its purview. Even a comprehensive plan to clean the water body through Kar-Sewa was devised, but it failed to take a concrete shape.
The question that arises now is that though, government and its various agencies continue to crores of public money on the noble cause, the problem has not been dug out from its roots. Although much is being spent on cleaning the nullah every year, it is also a fact that garbage is continuously being disposed into it, which is throwing all the money down the drain.
The lackadaisical attitude of the officials to solve the problem for once and all does not allow the residents breath in a cleaner environment.
Without the active participation of city residents it would just be impossible to achieve the aim. A little responsibility on part of the residents and strictness on behalf of the administration could only lead to a cleaner environment.
MC commissioner GS Ghuman, when contacted said, ���Every year we clean the nullah and MC takes all initiatives to keep the water body clean.���