Green activists move NGT against dumping of waste in Sirhind drain

The residents of Sirhind throughtyhe Public Action Committee, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) fighting for the cause of Budha Nullah in Ludhiana, has filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against dumping of garbage along a natural drain, Hansla Nadi, by the Sirhind Municipal Council (MC).

The NGO has made the state through Chief Secretary, Punjab, Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner (DC), the Sirhind MC Executive Officer, Superintendent Engineer (Drains) of Water Resources Department and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) respondents in this case.

Addressing the media, one of the petitioners, Gurwinder Singh Sohi, said the petition has been filed against the civic body as well as other government departments to remove the dump of garbage from the drain’s bed.

He further alleged that the garbage was being not only dumped along the natural drain but was also burnt on a daily basis. Leaching through garbage, the petitioner said was causing major water pollution in the natural drain as well as groundwater.

The petitioner said that the NGO before Shaheedi Sabha 2023 had launched the agitation and sat on a dharna at the garbage site, demanding removal of the dump of garbage given that lakhs of devotees would pass through the road to no avail.

Multiple complaints to the PPCB have, according to him, also fallen on deaf ears in the last five years.