Villagers, activists protest against illegal axing of trees, mining, concretisation

The Public Action Committee (PAC), along with farmer unions, sarpanches, and panches of Rampur, Katana Sahib, and Lal Kalan, today took out a ‘historical’ yatra from Gurdwara Charan Kamal Sahib in Machhiwara, passing through Chamkaur Sahib to Katana Sahib to raise concern against what they termed as the ‘highly apathetic attitude’ of the government towards the historical jungles and the sacred waters of the town. As the PAC has received a cold response from the authorities in this regard, it has decided to move the NGT in the coming days.

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“Rather than preserving the natural surroundings, habitats, and waters, the government is bent upon ruining them in every way possible by erecting concrete structures around. This will lead to a further lowering of the already low water table and hamper its regeneration, which has already become a grave environmental concern,” expressed a core committee member of the PAC, Kuldeep Khaira.

The protesters said the government’s decision would lead to the devastation of the jungles and waters that were associated with the faith of the people of the area.

“The Irrigation Department, despite our repeated pleading, has still not publicised the project report under which the concretisation is taking place from Ropar to Doraha. More so, rather than clearing the sand and silt deposits from the canal and widening it, the government is bent upon axing the trees around it to create space for concrete structures,” the protestors rued.

“Axing of trees, illegal mining, burning of wood, installation of a batching plant, creating underground water tanks etc are disastrous to the environment, and if not checked, can lead us to a severe environmental crisis for which we and our future generations shall have to pay heavily. We were astonished to find a similar axing on the Kamalpur bridge near Chamkaur Sahib, which is being further extended towards Ropar at a fiery pace without taking residents in confidence,” they added.

The members of the PAC and other supporting organisations shared that the canal expansion and concretisation project was being rushed by the government without transparency and was ill-conceived. “It is damaging to the sacred heritage forest of Macchiwara where the tenth Guru rested on his way to Damdama Sahib after the battle of Chamkaur. This damage to the forest is also a sad commentary on the priorities of the government, which is neither considering its sentimental value nor its heritage or environmental value,” the activists complained.