Farmers' union hails move to scrap Mattewara project

Jalandhar, July 12

Members of the Azaad Kisan Sangharsh Committee (AKSC) on Tuesday hailed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s decision to scrap the proposed textile park project near the Mattewara forest in Ludhiana district.

AKSC president Harjinder Singh Tanda said the decision to set up a textile park near the forest was wrong. “The forest has a historical and religious value. It is located near Punjab’s largest river, the Sutlej, and offers valuable ecosystem services to the people of the state. If the government had not taken its decision back, it would have sounded the death knell for the forest that is already depleting,” he stressed.

Prof Kanwar Sartaj Singh, a spokesperson for AKSC, said the Mattewara forest protected the city of Ludhiana from floods in the Sutlej and also absorbed the gases emitted from industrial units. It was also a source of oxygen and clean breathing air.

“Setting up an industrial park near the forest was an open invitation to the death of the jungle. We are happy that the CM took the right step by scrapping the proposed plan. Besides, the decision to increase the forest cover is appreciable. We hope more such steps to better Punjab’s air and water will be taken in the future,” he added.

Other members of the committee said the industrial units on the banks of rivers usually discharged water contaminated with chemicals directly into them without any treatment. “Ludhiana’s Buddha Nullah, once a tributary of the Sutlej, has been converted into a sewer by the industrial units. It’s time we saved Punjab’s green cover and took strict action against all those industrial units, which are throwing industrial waste directly into the rivers,” they added.