Ludhiana will have to fight for its right to be clean
IT TOOK 50 years for the Municipal
Corporation (MC) of Ludhiana to shake
off its stupor and gear up to rid the city
of garbage accumulated over these
years. Although better late than never,
authorities now realise that the powerful
industrial lobby of the city - one of the
most industrialised in the country -
are loathe at spending adequately to
clean up their mess. Two proposed projects, which are likely to curb the very
high pollution levels in the city, are the
Sutlej Action Plan - modelled after the
Ganga Action Plan - and a solid waste
management plan in collaboration with
Western Paques India.
Ludhiana contributes to the 50 per cent of the pollution of the river Sutlej.
Under the Sutlej Action Plan, the government aims to lay a 100 per cent sewerage
system in the City and lay a lining to the
Buddha mullah running through the city,
to prevent floods. The nullah, which was
once a beautiful creek, has now become a
virtual sewage drain. To top it all, the MC
is pumping raw sewage into the drain at
12 points while household and industries
pour waste at 25,000 points. The World
Bank will be providing assistance for this
project which is slated to be completed
by AD 2001. Under this project, the government plans to build three sewage
treatment plants in the city.
Sanitation is another area where
much work has been planned. To manage the solid waste of the city properly,
the MC is entering into a contract with
Western Paques and install a plant at the
cost of Rs 30 crore which will recycle the
waste to produce electricity. The plant is
expected to start operating in 1998.
Ludhiana's groundwater, which was
considered pure even 40 years ago, has
become grossly polluted due to the
release of untreated sewage, dairy discharges and industrial effluents - said
to be contaminated to a depth of almost
30.5 m. This means that almost half the
city's population is consuming contaminated water. According to a recent
study carried out by the civil engineering department of the Punjab
Agricultural University, most of the pollution parameters of groundwater have
concentration that far exceed the
potable water limits.
In Ludhiana, there are about 30,000
industries which include dyeing, electroplating, spinning and weaving which
emit untreated effluents into the drain.
These industries contribute to nearly 70
per cent of the business in Punjab and
provide employment to about 45 per
cent of the population of the city. Only
big industries like Hero Cycles, Avon,
Vardhman and Oswal use pollution
control methods as they can afford it.
While replying to queries, the municipal commissioner, K L Siddhu, said, "A few years ago, people were not aware of
the immensity of the problem and even if
they were, the corporation did not have
the money to install treatment plants."
This statement comes as a surprise as the
Ludhiana MC is supposed to have a
whopping budget of Rs 100 crore - one
of the highest in the nation.
The district collector, the chairperson of the improvement trust and the
municipal commissioner, meanwhile,
pass the buck to the state pollution control board (SPCB). Gulshan Rai, an environmental engineer with the SPCB,
blames the situation on the powerful
industrial lobby and political interference. Rai says, "We can only issue challans which industrialists are ready to pay
as it amounts to nothing. Court cases go
on till five years. By this time, the particular industry is fully established or the officer gets transferred."
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