The Budha Dariya (old river) has now turned into the Budha Nala (a pol­luted drain), pour­ing chem­i­cal-laden, toxic waste­water from Lud­hi­ana’s fac­to­ries into the Sut­lej River. This con­t­a­m­i­nated wa­ter is spread­ing dis­eases like can­cer and he­pati­tis across a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of Pun­jab’s Malwa re­gion. To stop this cat­a­stro­phe, lead­ers of the Pub­lic Ac­tion Com­mit­tee (PAC) re­cently or­ga­nized a mas­sive gath­er­ing at Lud­hi­ana’s Verka Chowk. This as­sem­bly, sup­ported by nu­mer­ous en­vi­ron­men­tal ac­tivists and or­ga­ni­za­tions, aimed to block the ef­flu­ents from the nearby dye­ing in­dus­trial units.  De­spite gov­ern­ment ef­forts to dis­rupt the protest by ar­rest­ing its lead­ers, the gath­er­ing turned out to be a ma­jor suc­cess. The pro­tes­tors blocked roads and even­tu­ally ended the demon­stra­tion af­ter re­ceiv­ing as­sur­ances from the ad­min­is­tra­tion late at night. Here’s a spe­cial re­port by Ish­winder Singh Dakha, a cor­re­spon­dent for World Sikh News, who was pre­sent at the protest site.

The peo­ple of Pun­jab have en­dured im­mense sac­ri­fices for In­di­a’s in­de­pen­dence—suf­fer­ing through count­less hard­ships, prison terms, and even the se­vere pun­ish­ment of “Kala Pani” (pe­nal trans­porta­tion). Yet, they could never have imag­ined that one day they would face a sim­i­lar “Kala Pani” pun­ish­ment right in their own homes, and that they would have to fight for lib­er­a­tion of clean wa­ters.

On 3 De­cem­ber, en­vi­ron­men­tal ac­tivists from the Pub­lic Ac­tion Com­mit­tee (PAC) called for an as­sem­bly to block the Budha Nala, which was once the pris­tine Budha Dariya. The fa­mous Verka Chowk of Lud­hi­ana be­came the “Kala Pani Front­line” for the day.

To thwart the protest, the gov­ern­ment be­gan ar­rest­ing PAC lead­ers early in the morn­ing. So­cial ac­tivists like Kuldeep Singh Khaira, Dr. Aman­deep Singh Bains, and Lakhbir Singh Lakha Sid­hana were ar­rested even be­fore they could reach the protest site. In a dra­matic move, po­lice chased Lakha Sid­hana’s car, smash­ing its win­dows. Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, pres­i­dent of Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal (Am­rit­sar), was placed un­der house ar­rest, and Bapu Tarsem Singh, fa­ther of MP Am­rit­pal Singh, was ar­rested and al­legedly mis­treated by the po­lice. Ad­di­tion­ally, hun­dreds of en­vi­ron­men­tal ac­tivists trav­el­ing from Ra­jasthan were de­tained at Abo­har and Bathinda, and a group of women ac­tivists from Chandi­garh faced the same fate.

De­spite these chal­lenges, a large num­ber of en­vi­ron­men­tal­ists man­aged to reach Verka Chowk, which had been trans­formed into a po­lice strong­hold. The po­lice be­gan in­dis­crim­i­nately ar­rest­ing any­one they sus­pected of be­ing a pro­tes­tor, in­clud­ing by­standers. Some me­dia jour­nal­ists in­ter­vened to res­cue pro­tes­tors from po­lice cus­tody. A par­tic­u­larly com­mend­able act was when jour­nal­ist Jagdeep Singh Thali of Pun­jabi Lok Chan­nel en­sured the re­turn of a pro­tes­tor’s tur­ban, which the po­lice had re­moved dur­ing his ar­rest.

Due to the ab­sence of key lead­ers, the pro­tes­tors be­gan block­ing roads on their own. Even­tu­ally, PAC mem­bers Ami­toj Mann and Gurki­rat Singh man­aged to reach the site covertly by 2 PM. They ad­dressed the gath­er­ing, urg­ing unity and per­se­ver­ance. Lead­ers from var­i­ous or­ga­ni­za­tions, in­clud­ing Ajay­pal Singh Brar from the Misl Sut­lej, Pro­fes­sor Mahin­der Pal Singh and Harpal Singh Baler from the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal (Am­rit­sar), also ad­dressed the gath­er­ing.

Un­der Ami­toj Man­n’s lead­er­ship, the pro­tes­tors broke through a po­lice bar­ri­cade at Verka Chowk and marched to­wards Tajpur Road to block the Budha Nala. How­ever, they were stopped at an­other bar­ri­cade near Gur­d­wara Nanaksar, where they staged a sit-in, block­ing the road. Ni­hang Singhs were also pre­sent there and vol­un­teers from Gur­d­wara Alam­gir Sahib or­ga­nized lan­gar for the pro­tes­tors.

Se­nior of­fi­cials, in­clud­ing the Po­lice Com­mis­sioner and ADC, promised to con­vey the pro­tes­tors’ de­mands to the gov­ern­ment. The pro­tes­tors, how­ever, re­mained firm in their de­mand to block the Budha Nala. Even­tu­ally, the ad­min­is­tra­tion re­quested two days to close the CETP at Ba­hadurke and a week to take le­gal ac­tion against other vi­o­la­tors. Af­ter se­cur­ing the re­lease of all de­tained lead­ers and pro­tes­tors, the demon­stra­tion was called off. Late at night, PAC lead­ers ar­rived at Verka to thank the par­tic­i­pants and pre­pare them for fu­ture protests if the promises were not ful­filled.

Why do po­lit­i­cal lead­ers, who make lofty promises be­fore elec­tions, bla­tantly aban­don them once in power? Chief Min­is­ter Bhag­want Singh Mann, who once vowed to clean the Budha Nala, now stands with those pol­lut­ing it, while openly chal­leng­ing those try­ing to clean it. 

Days be­fore the protest, fac­tory own­ers re­spon­si­ble for dis­charg­ing un­treated ef­flu­ents into the Budha Nala, threat­ened to con­front the demon­stra­tors. On the day of the protest, these own­ers trans­ported mi­grant work­ers in ve­hi­cles to the Budha Nala, pro­vid­ing them with new clothes, food, and en­ter­tain­ment in an at­tempt to cre­ate con­flict be­tween them and the pro­tes­tors.

AAP Ra­jya Sabha mem­ber and renowned en­vi­ron­men­tal­ist Baba Bal­bir Singh Seechewal was con­spic­u­ous by his ab­sence.

AAP Ra­jya Sabha mem­ber and renowned en­vi­ron­men­tal­ist Baba Bal­bir Singh Seechewal was con­spic­u­ous by his ab­sence. Many had hoped he would take steps to clean the Budha Nala, much like he had re­ju­ve­nated the Kali Vein. The Budha Dariya, like other rivers and rivulets in Sikh his­tory, holds im­mense sig­nif­i­cance. Its pol­luted wa­ters even­tu­ally flow into the Sut­lej, which is his­tor­i­cally tied to Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji’s first Am­rit cer­e­mony. The Gu­ru’s teach­ings em­pha­size the sanc­tity of wa­ter, mak­ing its preser­va­tion a fun­da­men­tal duty.

Why do po­lit­i­cal lead­ers, who make lofty promises be­fore elec­tions, bla­tantly aban­don them once in power? Chief Min­is­ter Bhag­want Singh Mann, who once vowed to clean the Budha Nala, now stands with those pol­lut­ing it, while openly chal­leng­ing those try­ing to clean it. The Pol­lu­tion Con­trol Board re­mains a silent by­stander. Do these lead­ers and fac­tory own­ers not need clean wa­ter them­selves? Have power and greed blinded them com­pletely?

The Budha Nala’s wa­ter is a ma­jor con­trib­u­tor to the high in­ci­dence of can­cer and he­pati­tis in Pun­jab’s Malwa re­gion and Ra­jasthan. New­borns are be­ing born with can­cer or se­vere dis­abil­i­ties, and many cou­ples are now un­able to con­ceive nat­u­rally. This is di­rectly linked to Pun­jab’s de­te­ri­o­rat­ing air and wa­ter qual­ity.

Wa­ter is a ba­sic ne­ces­sity for all liv­ing be­ings, yet pol­luted wa­ter is now caus­ing death and dis­ease. The Budha Nala’s wa­ter is a ma­jor con­trib­u­tor to the high in­ci­dence of can­cer and he­pati­tis in Pun­jab’s Malwa re­gion and Ra­jasthan. New­borns are be­ing born with can­cer or se­vere dis­abil­i­ties, and many cou­ples are now un­able to con­ceive nat­u­rally. This is di­rectly linked to Pun­jab’s de­te­ri­o­rat­ing air and wa­ter qual­ity.

The lack of in­volve­ment from Lud­hi­ana’s res­i­dents, the most af­fected by the Budha Nala, was a con­cern. 

While it is of­ten lamented that Pun­jab’s Hindu com­mu­nity does not stand with the state’s is­sues, this protest saw no­table par­tic­i­pa­tion from them. How­ever, the lack of in­volve­ment from Lud­hi­ana’s res­i­dents, the most af­fected by the Budha Nala, was a con­cern. Peo­ple need to un­der­stand that this fight is not about any one caste, creed, or re­li­gion—it is a col­lec­tive bat­tle for sur­vival. Clean air and wa­ter are shared re­sources, and un­til we unite to pro­tect them, these is­sues will re­main un­re­solved.