Residents oppose inauguration of civic body’s carcass utilisation plant near Noorpur Bet

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 13

Residents of four villages opposed the inauguration of the MC’s carcass utilisation plant at Rasulpur village near Noorpur Bet in Ludhiana today.

Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, along with Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, was supposed to inaugurate the project in the presence of MC officials this evening.

As soon as residents of villages learned about the event, they gathered at the spot to hold a protest. Members of a farmers’ union also reached the spot to oppose the project. Following the protest, the Mayor and MC officials were forced to return without inaugurating the project.

A former sarpanch of Rasulpur, Balvir Singh, said they had been opposing the MC’s plan to set up a carcass utilisation plan for the past four years.

He said when the project work was started over a year ago, they had also opposed it. But officials had then made false claims that the MC was just installing a plant for preparing feed for poultry birds.

He said: “When we came to know that Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu is coming to inaugurate the carcass utilisation plant, we made announcements in villages to gather to hold a protest. Residents of four villages had gathered to mark their protest today.”

He said, “One house is located just at a distance of about 70 feet from the carcass plant while the groundwater is just 25 feet deep in the area. There are high chances that the civic body will pollute the groundwater. The land where the plant has been set up is for agricultural purposes. The MC had not obtained any no-objection certificate from the panchayat concerned and the PPCB. The residents have already moved the NGT against the plant in the village.”

Another resident said: “If the plant is made functional, the villagers will be forced to suffer a lot. Kisan union members have extended support to us against the Municipal Corporation project in the village.”

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said when he and the Municipal Commissioner had reached the site, the villagers held a protest. However, he claimed that the Cabinet Minister was not present on the spot.

He said: “The the minister, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, was informed not to reach the spot due to protest.”

Sandhu claimed that the villagers had earlier lost a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

He claimed that the civic body had fulfilled the required norms to set up the plant.

The plant has been built at the cost of around Rs 7.98 crore under Ludhiana Smart City Limited. Earlier, in the absence of any such plant, dead animals were being disposed of at a ‘Hadda Rodi’ near the Sutlej for a long time.

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