Industrialists urge scrapping committee on Buddha Nallah pollution

Owners of industries along Buddha Nallah in Ludhiana have urged the Minister for Science, Technology, Environment and Non-Conventional Sources of Energy, Bikram Singh Majithia, to dissolve the P Ram Committee.

The P Ram committee has been formed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to check pollution in the Buddha Nallah.

This was Majithia's first meeting with the industrialists, largely seen as an attempt on the part of the government to soothe the ruffled feathers of industrialists following the recommendations of the P Ram Committee.

Speaking to Business Standard, Inderjeet Singh Pradhan, president of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, said that the P Ram Committee has said that no effluents, treated or raw, should be emptied into the drain till the master plan of the city is ready. "Till that time, however, the smaller units will have no option but to close down."

Pradhan said, "The circular from the Punjab Pollution Control Board also directed us to either reuse water or use it for irrigation. This is not possible for all industrialists, as many of us do not have effluent treatment plants.

Further, the Committee has also put a ban on expansion of existing units till the pollution control norms are met. The recommendations tantamount to killing the industry, which are also facing stiff competition from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh that enjoy special economic rebates."

Meanwhile, Majithia, who gave a patient hearing to the industrialists, refused to yield. "The matter is in the High Court and the Committee has been formed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to check pollution in the Buddha Nallah. So, it would not be right to comment on it. I will put the matter before Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Moreover, I am also here to remind the industrialists that they, too, have a moral responsibility towards keeping the environment clean," Majithia said.