Erring electroplating units in Ludhiana may be sealed

More than 550 electroplating units in Ludhiana might have to face a tough time as the May 31 deadline, set by the P Ram Committee, to begin treatment of effluents discharged from the units is drawing near. If the unit fail to meet the deadline, they might be sealed.

So far, the industry has not taken the deadline seriously. It is evident from the fact that till date the special purpose vehicle (SPV), formed by the committee, has only made 120 units part of the group that will get the effluent water treated at the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) at focal point phase 8.

The SPV was formed six months ago by the committee, which is supervising pollution control in Buddha Nallah. SPV members have been asking the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to ask the industrial units to join the SPV or to make it mandatory for them to be part of it.

The CETP, established by the Punjab State Industrial Export Corporation, has been inactive for more than two years.

However, the PPCB officials are avoiding the issue. Malwinder Singh, a senior environmental engineer, PPCB, said, "The SPV is supposed to enroll the units members. We are not responsible for this. They have not provided us any list of the units which are refusing to join the group."

On the other hand, SPV Chief Executive Officer Joginder Kumar said, "We have already given the list of 120 units that have enrolled with us. The PPCB have the entire record electroplating units in Ludhiana."

SPV members will meet industries' director Sanjay Kumar and apprise him of the entire situation. The cost of effluent treatment is expected to go up if the members are less.