Several markets around Sri Ganganagar district remained closed Saturday as local residents held protests against alleged pollution in the river Sutlej, which they blame on factories in the neighbouring Punjab. The town of Sri Ganganagar – the district headquarters where protests were held – is on the banks of the river. Saturday’s shutdown was called by farmer leaders with support of political parties in the area. Till 2 pm, 11 out of 18 Krishi Mandis were shut, with protesters marching through various city markets and eventually holding a demonstration at Gandhi Circle. Markets and schools also remained closed in the towns of Sri Karanpur, Padampur and Gajsinghpur. Rawinder Singh, an organiser of the protest, claimed that Buddha Nala, a seasonal water stream that originates in Punjab’s Malwa region and passes through the industrial city of Ludhiana before it finally drains into the Sutlej, carries industrial effluents from the city’s chemical, cloth, and leather factories. “The Punjab government has opened various STP plants to treat the chemical water but the impact has not been seen,” he claimed, adding that the water causes several health issues. Sri Ganganagar District Collector Manju admitted to having received complaints about the presence of heavy metals in the water but claims that lab tests have not been able to establish this. “We are keeping an eye on the issue and listening to the people,” she said. “We hope the state government will find a solution.” Rupinder Singh, an MLA from Karanpur in Sri Ganganagar district, claimed no action has been taken by the Punjab government despite petitions being filed against it in the National Green Tribunal. He also claimed to have flagged the problem at the state assembly. The National Green Tribunal had imposed a fine of Rs 50 crore on the Punjab government in 2018 for “uncontrolled industrial discharge” into Sutlej and Beas. The tribunal once again pulled up the state in 2021, ordering it, as well as Rajasthan, to submit quarterly compliance reports to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources) about the measures taken to curb the inflow of effluent discharge into the two rivers. “This issue is more than 20 years old and we want a solution now,” the MLA told The Indian Express. Calls and text messages to Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman Adarsh Pal for a response went unanswered.
