The Punjab government has acknowledged that around 26 dyeing units in Ludhiana’s Industrial Area-A remain outside the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) network, citing the infeasibility of connecting them to existing facilities and the failure to secure land for a separate plant.
The admission, made before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), brings into focus the unresolved challenges confronting the state’s efforts to regulate industrial wastewater discharge into Buddha Nullah.
The directions also envisaged regulatory action and environmental compensation in cases involving delays in making CETPs operational. Their exclusion from the CETP network, by itself, does not establish that they are discharging untreated effluent, leaving the status of their individual treatment arrangements unclear. Ludhiana has three CETPs, located on Bahadurke Road, Tajpur Road and at Focal Point, with a combined treatment capacity of 105 million litres per day (MLD). The facilities are listed as serving 211 member units. The state has cited technical and logistical constraints in connecting the 26 dyeing units in Industrial Area-A to these plants, while efforts by industrial associations to identify land for a separate facility have proved unsuccessful. Under the 2019 directions, units that could not be connected to the existing treatment network were to relocate to the catchment area of a proposed CETP or upgrade their treatment systems to achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD), preventing industrial effluent from entering the municipal sewerage network. The submission does not clarify whether all 26 units have installed compliant treatment systems or achieved ZLD.
The plan included expanding CETP connectivity, segregating industrial effluent from domestic wastewater and providing alternative treatment arrangements for units that could not be connected to existing plants. It has also sought permission to adopt the PPCB’s separate reply rather than independently defending the board’s action in detail. its submission does not specify the treatment arrangements currently in place at each unit or establish whether they meet the applicable pollution-control requirements Although the government has cited infrastructure constraints.
The 2019 roadmap envisaged coordinated action by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology. The continuing exclusion of the 26 units from the CETP network raises questions about the implementation of the state’s pollution-control strategy. Because of contamination from industrial effluent, domestic sewage and other waste, buddha Nullah, a seasonal stream that flows through Ludhiana before joining the Sutlej, has long been a major pollution concern.
In its submission, the state has outlined the constraints affecting the expansion of the treatment network and referred to the regulatory framework and earlier proceedings concerning pollution in Buddha Nullah.
