DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

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.

The 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.
(editor@dailyworld.in)