Patiala: Around five months after chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi halted the much-hyped dairy shifting project, Patiala mayor has approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for its intervention.
The project, which was to be implemented by September 30 last year, has already missed several deadlines as it became victim to the power politics and tussle between mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu and the state government.
The presence of dairies within the city limits has been leading to frequent choking of sewers and resultant waterlogging in the Royal City. In the first phase, of the 257 dairies, 141 were to be shifted.
In October, the CM directed the Patiala administration to halt the shifting till all necessary facilities were made available at the new site. The Patiala municipal corporation has already spent nearly ₹15 crore for the development of the new site at Ablowal village, on the outskirts of Patiala city.
The mayor said a petition has been filed with the NGT urging it to set aside the verbal orders issued by the CM. “The report on the development of the project may be called, if required. Any local commissioner may be appointed to ascertain the actual and factual position of the diary project,” he said.
Bittu added that orders be passed to shift the diary project outside the city within a fixed timeframe, preferably within two months.
“The National Green Tribunal has already given directions to the state of Punjab not to discharge untreated dairy waste into the sewerage lines. Presently, dairy owners have no such facility of effluent treatment plant on their premises,” Bittu said.
Meanwhile, Patiala dairy owners association continued to rue that there were no facilities at the new site. There is no provision of drainage, no facility to handle cattle waste, besides veterinary facilities as promised by the MC before allowing plots, the association said.
The dairy owners also complain that they were offered only 150 sq yard plot each, which was not adequate to run their units.
The Patiala municipal corporation (MC) had set September 30 as the deadline to shift 141 dairy farmers operating within the city to a 21-acre site at Ablowal village on the outskirts. Presently, the site is without a biogas plant, sewage treatment plant and veterinary hospital, as proposed under the ₹13.5-crore project.
