Stop work, Buddha Nullah STF member writes to Governor

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 15

A member of the Special Task Force for the Buddha Nullah, Col JS Gill (retd), wrote to the Governor regarding the ongoing Rejuvenation of Buddha Nullah project. He has requested the Governor to order the authorities concerned to stop initiation of the construction of effluent treatment plants (ETPs) under the project at Haibowal and Tajpur Road dairy complexes till the issue of shifting of dairies is reconsidered by the new government, which will be formed after the Assembly elections.

He said: “The Rs 650-crore Rejuvenation of Buddha Nullah project is underway in Ludhiana. A much-discussed issue was the shifting of dairies outside the city to a well-designed dairy farm complex on the government acquired land. As a background as per municipal solid waste rules, there are supposed to be no dairies because they are the main cause of failure of the sewerage treatment plants.”

“In case of not shifting the dairy complexes, the worst-case scenario will be the construction of the effluent treatment plants at Haibowal and Tajpur Dairy complexes. The easily resolvable issues of shifting of dairies got mired in bureaucratic delay, political wrangling, personal interests, personal egos, Covid-19 pandemic affected delays and indecision quagmire. This is actually the real picture,” he said.

He said: “Experts on sewerage treatment are unanimous that the dairy waste should not be mixed at all with the STPs’ inputs. Isolated gaushalas which are not covered by these dairy ETPs, need compulsorily to have captive ETP’s and Dairy solid waste management system in place in their plots itself so that they do not contribute to the failure of the under-construction and modified STPs being built at the cost of hundreds of crores.”

He said the new government must take steps to get the dairies shifted outside the city limits.

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