Kusum Arora 
Jalandhar: A month after they staged ‘Kale Pani da Morcha (war against black water), a civil movement to save Punjab’s Sutlej river from the toxic flow of untreated effluents from Ludhiana’s industries into its tributary Buddha Nala, environmentalists have announced that they will forcibly block the flow of effluents into the tributary from October 1, 2024.
This movement was first launched on June 18 this year.
During their maiden protest at Ludhiana on August 24, environmentalists had given an ultimatum to the Punjab government to act against erring industries, failing which they would be forced to stop the flow of effluents into the Buddha Nala. The protestors have now said that they will camp near the Verka Milk Plant situated on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway.
The civil movement is the third major environment protest in Punjab in the past two-and-half years of the Aam Aadmi Party government’s rule. The first protest was against the setting up of Mattewara Textile Project also near the Sutlej, which was scrapped following mass protests by civil society groups, and the second was the protest against Malbros International Private Limited, an alcohol-making unit at Zira in Ferozepur district.
In the last 40 years, Ludhiana’s 384 dyeing and nearly 2,000 electroplating industries have severely affected the river’s health and people’s lives in Punjab and Rajasthan.
Pollution in the Sutlej at Ludhiana. Photo: By arrangement.
Reports of people suffering from cancer, Hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis, skin and eye ailments are common in the region around the Buddha Nala and Sutlej. Ludhiana is famous as the ‘Manchester of India’ due to its large-scale domestic and international market of dyeing, hosiery, electroplating, knitting and textiles.
Industries violating PPCB orders, Punjab government non-serious: environmentalists
The Punjab government is yet to act against the factories against whom the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) have issued multiple orders in the recent past.
Recently on September 25, 2024, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) directed the PPCB to stop the flow of treated water into the Buddha Nala as well. The CPCB also levied a fine of Rs 2.77 crore on the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) responsible for the maintenance and operation of the three Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs).
The PPCB also mentioned that noncompliance of its orders would invite action under Section 41 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The Buddha Nala continued to be choked with toxic effluents despite the orders.
File image. Environmental activists, farmer unions and civil society groups from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan launch the ‘Kale Pani da Morcha’ in Ludhiana. Photo: Facebook/ਕੁਲਦੀਪ ਸਿੰਘ ਖਹਿਰਾ
In its orders, the PPCB had clearly directed the three CETPs located at Tajpur Road, Bahadurke Road and Focal Point in Ludhiana to stop the discharge of treated water into the Buddha Nala. The PPCB also issued multiple notices to ensure that one of the plants with 50 million litres per day capacity at Focal Point meets the provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
An inspection by the CPCB team on August 12 had highlighted high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspected solids (TSS) in the Buddha Nala and Sutlej.
Further, a comparison between 2022 and 2024 revealed that the level of pollution was also on the rise. The pollution level in Sutlej river has worsened, the CPCB findings revealed.
In April 2024 too, a CPCB team had inspected the CETPs, Buddha Nala and Sutlej to check the extent of pollution and found that only one plant was functional and treated industrial water was being flown into the Buddha Nala, leading to blackening of the Sutlej’s water.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Dyers Association at Ludhiana – the body representing dyeing units led by president Bobby Jindal has decided to knock the doors of National Green Tribunal (NGT) against these developments.
Environmentalists term blackening of Sutlej ‘ecocide’
Talking to The Wire, Jaskirat Singh, one of the members of Kale Pani da Morcha said that though the AAP government was under pressure they had only hired the Canada-based Nebula group, which would use Nebula Ozonation Technology to clean Buddha Nala in a three-phase project.
“Instead of acting against defaulter industries, the Punjab government hired this group, which claimed that they would reduce the TDS level of water to below 100, making it fit for drinking. The PPCB too was talking about the functioning of CETPs whereas the problem lies with the continuous flow of toxic waste of industries into the Buddha Nala. Basically, this is a PR stunt by chief minister [Bhagwant Singh] Mann, which was hugely disappointing,” he said.
Notably, the environmentalists shot off a letter to Mann asking 13 questions on the expertise of Nebula group in cleaning the Buddha Nala and Punjab government’s silence over inaction against violating industrial units.
Representative image of the Sutlej. Photo: Darshan Simhaj/Flickr (Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Jaskirat pointed out how the PPCB, Punjab government and the Punjab Dyers Association concealed binding orders of the Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to dump industrial water into the Buddha Nala, which was first issued in 2013.
“As per the Environmental Clearance (EC) issued by MoEFCC in 2013, it was clearly mentioned that ‘the treated waste water will be used for irrigation’ and in special terms and conditions also mentioned that ‘There shall be no discharge into the Buddha Nala’. The industries have no permission at all to dump water in Buddha Nala. For 10 long years, not only did they conceal these documents but worked in collusion with each other, playing with the lives of people and ruining the Sutlej river,” he said, adding that they were ready to stage a protest.
Notably, the environmentalists also lodged a complaint at the Tibba police station which is under the Ludhiana Police Commissioner, demanding the registration of an FIR against the polluting units. “The police have appointed an investigating officer in our case but no action has been initiated yet,” the morcha members said.
Further, terming the disastrous effects of Buddha Nala pollution and the subsequent blackening of Sutlej river as ‘ecocide’, Amandeep Singh, another member of morcha said, “We were shocked to know that the dyeing industry did not even have the permission to discharge its treated water into Buddha Nala for over a decade. This was recently exposed in an NGT case.”
He also said PPCB officials’ alleged collusion with the industry was taking a toll on the lives of people. “A recent example of this collusion is the CPCB’s order of August 12, 2024 directing PPCB to completely stop the discharge of dirty water from the dyeing industry into Buddha Nala within 15 days. However, one and half month has passed since then and all we can see is attempts by the Punjab government to distract the issue with announcements which are non-serious,” he added.
The Sutlej is the main source of water for drinking and irrigation purposes not just in Punjab but in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan too.
Since the water from the Sutlej is distributed to Punjab’s Malwa region and to Rajasthan, the impact of the toxic water is wide ranging.
While hundreds of villages in South Punjab or Malwa belt are affected by polluted water, in Rajasthan, over seven districts of Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Nagaur and some areas near Indo-Pakistan border are reported to have been similarly affected.
In August, when the environmentalists held their first mass protest to save the Sutlej, various NGOs from Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana had joined hands to fight for their survival and that of the future generations.