Cleaning of Buddha Nullah in the offing

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, February 21

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a new plan has been made for cleaning and beautification of the Buddha Nullah.

During the last Assembly and MC elections, the highly polluted Buddha Nullah remained a major issue and it is like to remain a major issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections too.

A team of a private company on Thursday showed interest in the cleaning and beautification of Buddha Nullah and a presentation in the MC Zone-D office.

According to information, the company has been associated with several such projects, including rejuvenation of Dravyavati River in Jaipur, besides the upcoming project for cleaning and beautification of Badi Nadi and Chhoti Nadi in Patiala.

Officials of the company claimed that they would not only ensure cleaning of the Buddha Nullah, besides they would do construction of embankments, paths for cyclists and morning/evening walkers, beautification, tree plantation, developing green belts/parks along the Buddha Nullah and re-use of the water for agriculture and horticulture purposes.

MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said the cleaning of around 14-km long stretch of the Buddha Nullah is one of the foremost projects in his priority.

He said the company has already completed the drone survey of the project and now they had been asked to prepare a formal project report so that it can be discussed further.

Bittu said the company officials had also been asked to prepare a detailed project report for which the Ludhiana MC would not have to pay anything to the firm.

He added that once the company officials submit the detailed project report on March 10, the other aspects such as costing of the project would be discussed.

“This project is likely to start soon and once it starts, no person would be allowed to pollute the Buddha Nullah. We expect that the project would be completed in the next three-four years. We thank the Punjab Government that has kept Rs 4.38 crore in the Budget for the cleaning of the Buddha Nullah,” he said.

A number of projects have been planned earlier for rejuvenation of the Buddha Nullah but to no avail. Even, some detailed project reports were prepared. But, polluted water from industries and untreated sewer waste are still dumped in the Buddha Nullah that pollutes Sutlej River.