Buddha Nullah rejuvenation plan: NGOs, environmentalists meet Union Minister

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, March 13

About a month after the Punjab Cabinet approved Rs 650 crore for the cleaning and rejuvenation of the polluted Buddha Nullah, which dumps Ludhiana city’s domestic and sewage waste into the Sutlej, a delegation of NGOs and environmentalists from this part of Punjab and Rajasthan met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi. They urged him to ensure that Rs 650 crore was properly used under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

Expressing apprehension about the misuse of money, Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja, state convener, and Naroa Punjab Manch and Bhai Ghaniya Cancer Roko Society, said on the basis of our bitter experience with the state government and working of the Punjab Pollution Control Board in initiating such projects for the Buddha Nullah in the past which had remained a complete failure, they wanted proper use of money this time.

In a meeting with the minister, the delegation members, including Kotkapura AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan, demanded that there should be a proper design of the project to solve the problem, instead of making it a superficial exercise. The delegation also included Dooshit Jal Asurkashit Kal, an NGO from Rajasthan.

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister. In the memorandum, the NGOs detailed many flaws in the project report. As the Union Government was also contributing money in this project, so they had demanded the minister to keep a check on the use of money. The Union Minister had assured them of sending his team for review, said Chandbaja.

After the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board floated the tenders for this project last week, many NGOs had pointed out many flaws and loopholes in it. They alleged that the process of making a Project Report and inviting tenders had been kept secret, raising suspicion over project.

The Budha Nullah is getting untreated sewage waste from Ludhiana and untreated industrial effluents from 228 dyeing units, and 16 ‘outlets’ which are directly releasing sewage and industrial waste into it. The nullah further merges into the Satluj, polluting the water being supplied to many parts of southern-western Malwa region of Punjab and many districts of Rajasthan.