Workforce of Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal blocks a portion of the Kala Sanghian drain at Nahal village in Jalandhar district on Friday.
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Carrying out an exemplary eco-drive for the welfare of over 70 villages falling along the Kala Sanghian drain, a dedicated workforce of environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal blocked a portion at Nahal village here by creating a barrier across the points from where the untreated waste from surgical and leather complex was being released via several low-lying outlets.
The baba and his kar sewaks stepped into the dark, smelly slur to put in sacks full of soil into the drain and create a barrier, thereby checking the discharge into the drain that further leads to Chitti Bein, Sutlej and Harike headworks. Water treated by an under-capacity treatment plant was, however, allowed to flow into the drain.
The drive was executed so smartly that the baba even managed to hoodwink the administration that, too, had reached the spot trying to apparently pressurise him against carrying it out. The officials were taken away for a round along the drain by the baba’s followers on the pretext of showing them various such outlets, when the exercise began.
Earlier, ADC (G) S. S. Marar and SP (city-I) S. K. Kalia tactically tried to convince him from taking the step. The baba’s followers, however, failed to budge, saying that the DC had already been informed about the plan almost 15 days back through a memorandum.
Seechewal later said the kar sewaks would stay at the site and ensure that the barrier was not lifted till the time the tanners, municipal corporation and industries stopped flow of untreated water into the drain.
He pointed out that the carcinogenic elements flowing into drain were being consumed by residents of Malwa region and Rajasthan, who got drinking water supply via feeders from Harike headworks. Asked what if the water overflowed due to the barrier, he replied, “Let it enter the leather complex and make the tanners realise the gravity of the situation”.
Tanners stood there helplessly watching the exercise. Avinash Chander, chief parliamentary secretary of health, also owns a tannery in the complex. Amandeep Sandhu, chairman of Punjab Leather Federation, said the problem would get resolved after another treatment plant would be set up in the complex.
A closed-door meeting was later conducted by the DC in which the Punjab Pollution Control Board was reportedly given a 15-day notice to identify the polluting units. Officials of the MC were also asked to check discharge of sewage into the drain in one month.
Seechewal declared that a similar obstruction would be created across a drain at Jamsher on March 31 in case the industries in residential areas around there did not stop the release of waste. He said the height of the barrier at Nahal village would also be raised in case the board failed to act.