Residents complain of polluted groundwater at Mangat village

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 4

The residents of Mangat village on Rahon Road, Ludhiana, convened a gathering on Sunday to express their concerns about the alleged contamination of groundwater resulting from the disposal of industrial effluents, asking the district administration and departments concerned to take necessary action on this. They blamed a dyeing unit for polluting the groundwater.

In support of the villagers, the members of a public action committee have come forward and sent a complaint to the chairman of Central Pollution Control Board, Punjab chief secretary and Ludhiana deputy commissioner against the alleged discharge of industrial effluent, resulting in groundwater contamination. Besides, they also highlighted the alleged illegal dumping of industrial waste including fly ash at the village pond of Mangat.

Sukhjeet Singh Gill, a villager, accused a dyeing unit of contaminating the groundwater. He alleged the ash released from the dyeing unit’s chimney settled on the houses. Gurpreet Singh, another villager alleged that there is an urgent need for attention as several people in the village have succumbed to cancer, possibly linked to the contaminated groundwater.

In grievance, members of the PAC asserted that two tubewells in Mangat village are discharging contaminated water with a chemical-based foul odour. “This suggests that nearby industries have unlawfully polluted the groundwater table. Despite numerous complaints from residents, the Punjab Pollution Control Board has not taken any action to date. From the act, it is clear that some dyeing industry is illegally discharging effluents into the groundwater table through reverse boring, constituting a crime under various environmental acts,” said Dr Amandeep Singh Bains of PAC.

Jaskirat Singh and other PAC members have urged the CPCB and Punjab government to issue directives for identifying the polluting industries. “We demand the authorities to survey industries and obtain fool-proof samples from the first three aquifers and soil in Mangat village, as well as from dyeing complexes on Tajpur Road and Focal Point, Ludhiana. The process should involve affected citizens and PAC members,” he said.

Earlier, Pardeep Gupta, chief environmental engineer at PPCB Ludhiana, had stated that a previous inspection of the dyeing unit revealed no violations. He said a PPCB SDO visited the village on Friday and found no violations. Gupta had assured that water samples from the submersible pumps would be collected to test and check the allegations.

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