Rough ride for industry in Jalandhar North

Gagandeep Singh

The factory hooter is heard loud and clear as one reaches Jalandhar North constituency. The workers quickly enter the industrial unit’s premises, all set to slog long and hard throughout the day. Everything seems to be happening with clockwork precision. However, once you scratch the surface, the problems surface.

The area, which includes the Industrial Focal Point, Focal Point Extension and Transport Nagar, badly needs an effluent treatment plant. “The issue has been taken up with the state government and the Punjab Pollution Control Board several times, but to no avail,” says Charanjit Maingi, an industrialist. “We have been paying heavily for the transportation of effluents to Ludhiana, where these are treated. Jalandhar is also an industrial city. Why can’t a treatment plant be set up here?” he wonders.

Maingi also expresses concern over the rising crime rate. “In the first week of the month, when the workers get their salary, several incidents of snatching are reported. Nothing has come out of a series of meetings with the police,” he says.

Narinder Saggu, a pump manufacturer, complains that the sewerage system has not been developed to handle the factory outflow. He also flags the knotty issue of compensation for land acquisition. “In the early 1990s, the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation provided land to the industrialists after acquiring it from farmers at the rate of Rs 150 per sq yard. Later, the farmers moved the Supreme Court, demanding enhanced compensation. They went on to win the case. The government wants us (industrialists) to pay the money, while we feel the former should do the needful,” he says.

According to Saggu, the industrialists have repeatedly taken up the issue with the local MLA, BJP’s KD Bhandari, who is serving his second consecutive term. “Despite his efforts, the matter has not been resolved. It will have a bearing on the elections. The AAP candidate, Gulshan Sharma, himself an iron and steel trader, has assured us of a positive outcome if he is elected,” he adds.

In the 2007 Assembly election, Bhandari defeated former Congress minister Avtar Henry by about 4,900 votes. In 2012, the margin fell to 1,700-odd votes. He is busy trying to retain his vote bank and minimise the impact of anti-incumbency. “I have been listening to the voters’ grievances and attempting to redress them. Of course, I can’t make everyone happy,” the BJP leader says, adding that development will be his poll plank. Bhandari calls the construction of the railway underbridge in Chandan Nagar his “biggest achievement” during the current term.

Des Raj Jassal, a councillor, claims that most of the development works in his ward (No. 1) and others in the constituency have been funded by the Centre. “Not even a single paisa has been spent from the BJP-ruled MC’s budget or the MLA’s fund,” he says, pointing out that there is no plan in place to tackle waterlogging, a major problem faced by the residents.

The potholed roads in the Focal Point area continue to be in a state of disrepair. The elections are nearing, but even then no effort is being made to initiate last-ditch damage control. “It’s tough to commute on these roads, especially during the rainy season. The sewers usually remain clogged. Most of the localities become prone to an epidemic outbreak during the monsoon,” says Ashwani Kumar, a local resident. There are more than 500 units in the Industrial Focal Point and Focal Point Extension. Heavy vehicles laden with material ply daily, yet the road infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired.

Gurmeet, a resident of Ward No. 7, spews venom: “We live in filthy conditions. The threat of water-borne diseases looms large. We have been suffering for the past couple of decades, but nobody is bothered about us, be it politicians or officials.”

Jassal says the drug menace has adversely affected the constituency. “As many as 28 youths aged less than 30 years have died due to drug addiction in my ward in the past five years. Several youngsters have been booked in drug cases, but the big fish are yet to be caught, for reasons best known to the police,” he says, anger writ large on his face.