Buddha Nullah remains toxic

The number of ageing Ludhianvis who remember taking a dip in the Buddha Nullah when it was the clean ‘Buddha Dariya’ is steadily decreasing. The past few decades have witnessed a rapid deterioration of the rivulet into a dirty drain. The younger generations’ memories of the watercourse snaking through Ludhiana evoke tales of the nullah’s pollution, and the resultant health hazards and ecological disaster. And, not just in the industrial megacity and its surrounding villages. With untreated effluents of the nullah emptying into the Sutlej, the toxic waters flow into some parts of Malwa and Rajasthan, making people along its banks sick. Rajasthan has filed a writ petition in the National Green Tribunal against this water pollution.

Worryingly, the latest report of the Department of Local Government has found that untreated waste continues to be dumped into sewers that spew it into the Buddha Nullah. The report pins the blame on the city’s three sewage treatment plants being inadequate to handle the daily load of spillage. Not only are more plants needed, for better results, they must also be upgraded. But it is lamentable that despite awareness of the harmful consequences, there seems to be no let-up in the industrial waste influx into the Buddha Nullah over the years. Penalty for causing pollution has failed to deter some irresponsible defaulters. Instances of direct outlets of sewers into the nullah negate the outcome of the sewage treatment plants. Government efforts to clean up the nullah are nullified and crores of rupees sanctioned for the purpose go down the drain. The ambitious smart village scheme means nothing if a clean water body is not a priority.

The goal cannot be achieved unless every dyeing, hosiery and dairy unit wakes up to its duty and ensures that it does not remain the fountainhead of pollution. Concerted conjoint efforts of the government as well as the residents can restore the stream to its pristine glory. Dirty, stinking nullah water overflowing into local colonies during the rains, causing discomfort, disease and slow death must become a thing of the past. A clean Buddha Nullah must not remain a mirage.