Fly ash from Rajpura thermal plant: Villagers want clean-up promise in return for vote

Mohit Khanna

Rajpura, May 31

In the weeks leading to the polling day, with the candidates busy canvassing in the villages surrounding the Rajpura Thermal Plant, they encountered tough questions from villagers, who put forth their pent-up frustrations: They have been grappling with severe pollution and hygiene issues for a very long time. Sadhraur, Rai Majram, Sadhraur, Haripur, Rai Majri, Surl Kalan, Nalas Khurd, Dhuman and Kotla villages have been reporting significant environmental and health risks due to fly ash emission from the plant.

Going to villages to evade norms

• Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM Non- Political) leader Tejveer Singh said he always wondered why huge chunks of land were lying vacant in industrial areas across the state and industrial units were being set up in remote villages
• Cheap land and ease of evading pollution norms were the key reasons behind this phenomenon, he said
• Invoking Punjabi poet Surjit Patar, the farmer leader said it was not a fight between farmers and labourers, it was a fight to save villages from getting ruined

When politicians visited these villages, the residents told them that their votes would go to the candidate who would free them of the pollution problem.

Villagers from Sadhraur have been hit particularly hard. The recent construction of a cement factory has worsened their plight. A local power plant worker explained that the authorities of the cement factory had raised the plinth level of the passage leading to the factory. The construction of a boundary wall and limited number of causeways had led to waterlogging in the last rainy season due to inadequate drainage. The plying of the company’s trucks in the area had also increased dust and noise pollution, worsening the conditions.

“Big farmers with large landholdings sold their land and left the village, leaving small farmers like us behind. We have small houses and a little land here. We have nowhere else to go,” a resident said, sharing his plight.

“Due to pollution, our children remain confined indoors and cannot play outside. Most people have installed air-conditioners because of the fly ash pollution; we can’t sleep outside,” he said.

The influx of migrant labourers, housed in over-crowded quarters, has exacerbated the situation. “When these plants were set up, the locals were promised jobs. However, our village has become a hub of cheap migrant labourers. Their living conditions are appalling,” said another resident.

When candidates visited these villages, residents made it clear that their votes depended on the candidates’ commitment to addressing the critical issues of the region. Satnam Singh, a resident of Dhuman village, said, “You put a white shirt out to dry and it will turn black by the evening.”

Congress Lok Sabha candidate Dharamvira Gandhi confirmed he had come across residents raising this issue when he campaigned in the area. He said fly ash contained very fine particles that could become airborne and contribute to air pollution. “Besides X-rays and lung check-up, I have promised the residents that inspections will be carried out in the area. I will speak to the thermal plant authorities as to what steps they are taking to counter fly ash management,” he said.

Residents, their lives made hellish by ‘development’ and the pollution it has brought, have had their say — whoever wins the seat must address the issue.