Ludhiana: With the beginning of the second phase of the Buddha Dariya cleaning project, Rajya Sabha MP and environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal drove an earth-moving machine to disconnect illegal sewer connections of dairy units at Tajpur Road on Monday.
The MP has decided to stay in the city till Buddha Dariya is completely clean and is currently looking for a place to temporarily camp near the drain.
On Monday, Seechewal used an excavator and disconnected sewer connections of dairies discharging waste into the Buddha Dariya. On the first day, pipes of about 10 dairies dumping dung and dirty water into the water body, were disconnected.
Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had already recommended disconnection of electricity connections of 10 dairies for not stopping discharge of waste water. Despite this, almost all dairies in the city have been discharging dung and waste water into the Buddha Dariya. Akhand Path was started in Gurudwara Gaughat on Dec 22 before cleaning of the Buddha Dariya through kar sewa. Bhog of the Akhand Path is scheduled on Dec 24.
Talking to mediapersons, Seechewal said that with public cooperation, clean water would flow in the Buddha Dariya the way it flows in the holy Bein, where Guru Nanak Dev touched his feet. Seechewal said that TDS of the drain had reduced to 116 from 118, which showed how pure the water was.
Seechewal said that factories discharging toxic water into the Buddha Dariya will be identified and stopped from continuing such discharge. Underlining the need to clean rivers, Seechewal said that he believed in solving the problem rather than criticising anyone. He also called upon Punjabis to take a pledge to save rivers from pollution.
Earlier, Seechewal held a meeting with officials at the office of the 225 MLD sewage treatment plant and told them to take strict action against factories and dairies dumping toxic and dirty water into the drain. The meeting was attended by additional commissioner, Municipal Corporation Paramdeep Singh Khaira, DDPO Navdeep Kaur, Kuldeep Singh from Punjab Pollution Control Board among others.
