Residents gear up to protest against waste treatment plant

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 22

Residents of around 20 colonies located on the Mansa road have again decided to protest against the solid waste management plant. They have reconstituted their committee — “plant hatao morcha” to raise their voice.

They are demanding shifting of the plant from its current location to another at the earliest.

The residents today held a meeting at a gurdwara in Bhai Mati Dass Nagar. They said the SAD-BJP government had set up a solid waste management plant in a residential area against the norms.

They also announced to stage a protest on the road that leads to the solid waste management plant tomorrow at 5 pm. Thereafter, they would announce their further course of action.

They claimed that residents of various nearby colonies had started protesting against it, after which the state government in a dramatic way had claimed of accepting their demand. But the government kept on delaying in the shifting of the plant, they added.

The residents said a result, former SAD MLA Sarup Chand Singla had to face the defeat in the elections.

They said during the elections, Congress candidate Manpreet Singh Badal had termed it a small thing and promised them of resolving the issue after coming to power on a priority basis. At rallies and public meetings during the election, he assured that the plant would be shifted.

They also appealed to Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to fulfil his promise and said people were disappointed over the delay in the shifting of the plant.

Capt Mall Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Balwinder Singh, Jeet Singh Joshi,Sohan Singh, Ranjit Singh Jalal, Avtar Gogi, Bikram Singh and others were present at the meeting.

Started as a pilot project at in Bathinda, the solid waste treatment plant faced the ire of public within a week after it got operational on a trial basis in January last year.