Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
MP Satnam Singh Sandhu along with delegation of Buddha Nullah Action Committee appeals Punjab Governor for stopping decade-long effluent discharge from 3 Ludhiana CETPs into Buddha Nullah
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, October 8, 2024: The delegation of Buddha Nullah Action Committee along with Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Satnam Singh Sandhu submitted a Memorandum to the Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Tuesday for implementation of a recent Union government order for stopping discharge of dyeing industry’s effluent into Buddha Nullah by three Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in Ludhiana for over a decade now in violation of the environment laws and orders of pollution regulatory bodies to ensure zero liquid discharge (ZLD) into the natural water body.
The delegation apprised the Governor that Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has written to Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on 12 August this year for implementing the over 10-year-old condition (of not discharging treated effluent water into a natural water body) within 15 days.
It said on the basis of this letter, the PPCB has now issued orders for the three effluent treatment plants on 25 and 26 September to stop discharge of liquid into Buddha Nullah “immediately”. But the PPCB order has not been implemented even after 12 days even as the CPCB has asked the PPCB to stop the water discharge from effluent plants into Buddha Nullah on 12 August, the delegation informed the Governor.
Governor Kataria assured the delegation, which included Rajya Sabha Member Satnam Singh Sandhu, Amitoj Maan (actor, director, and screenwriter), Jaskirat Singh (Coordinator Naroa Punjab Manch), Dr Amandeep Bains (Member Public Action Committee Mattewara), Col JS Gill former member Buddha Dariya Task Force, Kapil Arora (President Council of Engineers), that he will look into the matter and take up the matter with the Punjab government.
The Memorandum said despite provisions of Water Act of 1974, directions of Supreme Court for ZLD, environment clearance (EC) restrictive condition, orders of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the three CETPs of the dyeing industry at Ludhiana are operating in an illegal manner and brazenly dumping their effluent into Buddha Nullah even as Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had issued the environment clearance for setting up of these plants in 2013 and 2014 on the basis of ZLD technology.
Demanding strong action against officials of PPCB who have allowed such pollution to go on in the last one decade, the delegation apprised the Governor that the three CETPs near Central Jail, Tajpur Road Ludhiana, with of total capacity 105 millions of litters per day (MLD), are illegally dumping the effluent of about 200 dyeing industries by going against the well settled law but the concerned authorities have failed to stop them despite mandatory condition of Environment Clearance and Water Act of 1974.
The delegation requested Kataria to impress upon the Punjab 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 the three CETPs to see the factual condition of Buddha Nullah being polluted by discharging nine crore litres of effluent per day in a completely in an illegal manner in active connivance with the officials of PPCB.
The delegation also requested the Governor to visit village Walipur in Ludhiana to see how Buddha Nullah 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.
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Satnam Singh Sandhu, who has been strongly raising the issue of Buddha Nullah strongly inside and outside the Parliament, said, “Due to the rising pollution level in water bodies of Punjab which has assumed alarming proportions has not only been causing several health hazards such as cancer, skin diseases, gastroenteritis, indigestion and loss of eyesight among others but also making the water unfit (poisonous) for irrigation and affecting aquatic life adversely. Traces of chromium and arsenic can be found in the Sutlej after confluence of Buddha Nullah. Apart from sewerage water, toxic Industrial effluents released from units like dyeing units, electroplating, hosiery, steel rolling mills are the major sources polluting the Buddha Nullah. Toxic untreated industrial effluents from 228 dyeing units and 16 outlets that directly release sewage and industrial waste make way into the Nullah.”
“Polluted water bodies have also been poisoning the irrigation water rendering swathes of cultivable land infertile and subsequently adding to the woes of agrarian crisis of Punjab. Fertile fields are turning barren due to river water pollution by industries. He said farmers in many areas of the state are now have been unable to grow crops due to their agricultural land losing fertility due to pollution of the river water by untreated industrial waste, mainly from the textile industry. Buddha Nullah and East Bein (a rivulet in Doaba in Punjab) are two major sources of water that have constantly been discharging untreated wastewater into the Sutlej. As per surveys, Buddha Nullah on an average contributes around 16,672 kilogram a day of biological oxygen demand (BOD) load and East Bein contributes about 20,900 kg per day of BOD load,” Sandhu added.
Jaskirat Singh, Coordinator Naroa Punjab Manch, said, “In its letter to the PPCB, the CPCB has already said the treatment of effluent in these plants in Ludhiana is not up to the mark and is of a very low quality and the parameters of the treated water discharged from these plants are really bad. Even if these parameters were good, even then these plants didn’t have the permission to discharge treated water into Buddha Nullah,”.