The complaint was filed on the directions of NGT.A local court here Thursday granted bail to Ludhiana municipal corporation Commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu and two others who were booked in a criminal case filed by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The officers were booked under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act on charges of polluting the Buddha Nullah as a sewerage treatment plant (STP) run by the civic body at Jamalpur was non-functional while another at Balloke was not functioning as per norms.
Ludhiana civic body is the biggest in Punjab. It manages three STPs located at Jamalpur, Bhattian and Balloke with capacity of treating 60 million litres water per day (MLD), 148 MLD and 269 MLD, respectively. The total treatment capacity of the STPs is 477 MLD while the requirement is of nearly 764 MLD as per the growing population of the city.
On May 1, an NGT team had visited Ludhiana. It had found that the STP at Jamalpur was lying closed and the untreated water was being discharged into the Buddha Nullah, which further merges with Sutlej river. The civic body had then cited lack of funds to carry out repair and installation of new motors to make the STP functional.
Mayor Sandhu said, “We have secured bail in the criminal case. We have sought time till 2021 to enhance the capacity of the STPs and also to make them operational. We will fulfill our promise well in time”.
Asked if it means that untreated water will continue to be discharged in Sutlej till 2021 creating health hazards, the mayor refused to answer.
A project to upgrade the capacity of Balloke STP by another 48 MLD over its existing capacity of 269 MLD is still in pipeline.
Paramjeet Singh, executive engineer, PPCB, said, “The Balloke STP is running without taking consent from PPCB. Moreover, the parameters of this STP are not as per norms. Jamalpur STP is totally non-operational. A case was lodged against the officials responsible”.
Later in the evening, in a press statement, Sandhu alleged that many industries, including dyeing units, were releasing untreated effluent in sewer lines. The sewer lines are further connected to the MC line and thus the untreated discharge reaches the three STPs affecting their efficiency.
In 2007-08, under the Sutlej Action Plan, the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board had constructed the three new STPs at Jamalpur, Bhattian and Balloke. Later, the civic body’s sewer lines were connected to them. As the sewer connections of the dyeing units were already connected to the civic body’s lines, the discharge started going to the STPs for treatment. However, these STPs were developed for treating domestic discharge, and not the industrial discharge.
“I have informed the court that keeping in mind this problem, the Punjab Dyers Association, under the supervision of PPCB, started constructing three new common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) by forming clusters in Focal Point, Tajpur Road and Bahadurke Road. A new pipeline for discharge from dyeing units is also being laid and is connected with these CETPs. This work is going on for quiet some time,” Sandhu said.
He claimed that the PPCB extended the deadline for completion of the work on the CETPs several times in the past. The initial deadline of March 31, this year was extended to June 30 and has now been further extended under the supervision of the NGT. The new deadline for completion of Focal Point CETP (40 MLD) is March 31, 2020, while for Tajpur Road and Rahon Road CETPs (50 MLD each) it is September 30 this year.
He further said that the flow of Budha Nullah was jointly measured by the civic body and the PPCB and was found to be 597 MLD. By adding 168 MLD of STP Bhattian, the total sewer discharge becomes 765 MLD and if the 477 MLD water supplied by civic body is deducted from the total, there is an extra 288 MLD of effluent flow.
This extra effluent comes from industries only, because there is no other source of water, he said, alleging that it is often observed the some industries often dispose their untreated water into the municipal corporation sewers. He alleged that when the civic body collected water samples from industries, the PPCB opposed it. He claimed that the industries are benefiting from this partisan approach of the PPCB.
He stated that due to industrial effluents, the STPs are getting damaged and instead of taking action against the industries discharging untreated water into the civic body sewers, the PPCB has imposed a fine of Rs50 lakh on municipal corporation. “This clearly shows that the PPCB is merely shifting the blame of their own failures,” he added.
“If Punjab Dyers Association fail to commission their CETPs within the set deadline, the municipal corporation will be forced to snap their sewer connections from civic body’s line. Besides, the municipal corporation will also stop collecting the discharge charges from their dyeing units,” he warned.
He informed that the work on CETPs is being supervised directly by PPCB as a nodal agency and that is why, if the work is not completed on time, then its sole responsibility would be on the Punjab Dyers Association and the PPCB.
Meanwhile, Naroa Punjab, an NGO, has started working on the issue of pollution in water bodies of Punjab. Its president, Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja, said, “We twice visited Ludhiana and found polluted water being discharged in Sutlej. We have also complained to PPCB. The action against corporation should have been taken long back”.
