MC, PPCB to hold meeting with dairy owners for shifting units outside city limits

Ludhiana: For curbing the discharge of waste coming from the dairy units in Buddha Nullah, officials of the municipal corporation (MC), Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), and the drainage department will hold a meeting with owners of dairies on Sunday to discuss whether dairies should be shifted outside the city limits, or whether any other measures could be adopted by the units.
In a meeting of the Special Task Force formed by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday, the director of Tandarust Punjab Mission Kahan Singh Pannu has directed officials to conduct a meeting over this issue. Pannu is also heading the committee formed by CM Captain Amarinder Singh to resolve the pollution level in Buddha Nullah. Also, he has asked the drainage department to get the drain’s demarcation done, and also point out the encroachments on the sides of the drain for removal.
The meeting was organized at the Circuit House on Tuesday for reviewing the status of steps being taken for curbing the pollution level in Buddha Nullah, which is further polluting the Satluj river. Pannu has asked MC officials to once conduct a meeting with all stakeholders, including dairies for the shifting, because the discharge coming from dairies is a major issue. Mayor Balkar Sandhu will also attend this meeting, and the Namdhari sect head Thakur Uday Singh will also be asked to attend this meeting, because he had also raised questions on the dairies throwing cow dung in the drain.
MC commissioner KP Brar said they would conduct a meeting on Sunday, and then any decision would be taken whether dairies should be shifted, or if there is any alternative to curbing pollution in the drain. She said: “The drainage department will also tell MC about encroachments in the drain because it is their property, and then MC will assist them in removing those illegal structures.”
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said they would conduct a meeting with dairy owners, who will be asked whether they should be shifted outside the city limits or not. “But whether that would resolve the problem is a big question, because if they are shifted to some nearby village, even then their discharge would go into the Satluj, so instead of their shifting, the authorities should plan some technique to treat the water,” he said.