Some trash is recycled, some is thrown away, some ends up where it should not end up. This sums up the sordid story of Batala.
This city, where a once booming industry had pitchforked it to the national map, is now one of the filthiest towns of Punjab. Water and air are the two essential substances on which all life depends but the two have become massive garbage cans here. Things have come to such a pass that recently, a few good Samaritans moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the mess created by the city’s civic body, the Municipal Corporation (MC). Residents said it is good that the NGT has stepped in otherwise nobody, at least not the Batala Municipal Corporation, was ready to listen to their grievances.
The good Samaritans, read petitioners, in this case are Param Sunil Kaur, Iqbal Singh, Sulakhan Masih, Guriqbal Singh, Kapil Arora and Jaskirat Singh.
On its part, the NGT has ordered the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to take action against MC officials and also impose penalty upon them for their continuous violation of environmental laws pertaining to solid waste management. The PPCB resultantly fined the MC Rs 60 lakh for not maintaining proper standards of cleanliness, out of which just Rs 13 lakh has been paid.
The NGT has ordered the Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner (DC) to take immediate steps to recover the remaining amount of Rs 47 lakh towards environmental clearance from the civic body and deposit it with the board. The DC and the PPCB have been asked to submit compliance reports by March 15.
The tribunal has also directed the PPCB to take immediate punitive action against the erring MC officials. A joint committee comprising officials of the PPCB, Central Pollution Control Board and the DC has been asked to prepare a remedial plan. This plan, in fact, is necessary to sustain the city, otherwise things may get from bad to worse.
Social activist Jagjot Singh Sandhu, who has been regularly raising the red flag when anything goes wrong in the city, pinpoints the worst-affected areas. “In fact, the entire city has become a big garbage dump. If we were to pinpoint the worst areas, they are Nehru Gate, Khajuri Gate, Bank colony, Cinema Road, Pahari Gate and Gandhi Camp. The Hansli drain, an irrigation drain, has not been cleaned. Whenever monsoon comes, there will be a sham of a cleanliness exercise following which things will be back to square one,” he said.
The work of ensuring the city gets a neat and clean look is the responsibility of the general House of the MC. However, not even a single meeting of the House has been held for the past several months. Mayor Sukhdeep Singh Teja remains silent on this issue. According to MC rules, it is mandatory for the MC to hold at least one House meeting every month.
So much so, the Director (Local Bodies) has written to the MC on January 16 to immediately hold a meeting and sort things out. The civic body has been asked to ensure street lights, sewerage and water supply work efficiently.
MC Commissioner-cum-SDM Vikramjit Singh Panthey said primarily, the job of maintaining cleanliness has to be supervised by sanitary inspectors. “On my part, I have sent proposals to the MC general House, which include purchase of light vehicles to remove solid waste. However, these proposals have been pushed to the sidelines because meetings of the House are not being held,” he said.
