PAC for no extension to industries in mixed land use areas

Ludhiana: The activists from the Public Action Committee (PAC) and Buddha Dariya Action Front have submitted a request to Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria and demanded that the govt should not give more time to the industry running in mixed land use (MLU) areas, as it was causing damage to the environment.Col CM Lakhanpal, an activist, said over the past two decades, temporary permissions granted to industrial units in mixed land use areas gradually assumed a quasi-permanent character. This prolonged arrangement resulted in severe environmental degradation in residential neighbourhoods, overburdened civic infrastructure, movement of heavy commercial vehicles through residential streets, sewage overflow and stagnant polluted water, groundwater contamination, air pollution from red and orange category units, and public health concerns, particularly among economically weaker sections.
Another activist Maninderjit Singh Benipal, however, claimed that there was a need for a comprehensive mapping framework of 70+ MLU clusters, categorisation of industrial units (red/orange/green/white), and a gap analysis on their compliance with environmental norms. The impact of such units in mixed land use areas should be checked on public health. The activists also proposed that the govt should prepare cluster-based industrial relocation, and develop approved industrial clusters with complete infrastructure and CETPs with zero liquid discharge compliance. There should be mandatory green buffer zones and real-time monitoring systems and GIS mapping of all 70 MLU pockets, they added.