Balbir Singh Seechewal: A Man With a Mission
by CHANDER SUTA DOGRA
The industrial and organic pollution of major rivers like the Sutlej and Beas in Punjab has continued without impediment for years, bringing death and disease not only to Punjab’s southern districts but also to Rajasthan, into which the waters of the two rivers have streamed via a 2,000-km canal.
It has taken a people’s movement spread across the two states to get Punjab’s jittery, election-bound government on tenterhooks and put its industrial lobby on the defensive. Ironically, the campaign is led by a member of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Bhai Balbir Singh Seechewal, the state’s best known environmentalist and the most vocal critic of the PPCB.
The resentment of the affected people was plain to see a few weeks back, when Bhai Balbir Singh organised a massive exercise to block Kala Sanghian, a highly polluted Sutlej tributary, from draining into it. Kala Sanghian conducts the waste from Jalandhar’s leather tanneries and surgical instruments industry and its untreated sewage to the Sutlej.
Apart from the people of Jalandhar and the adjoining districts turning up en masse, what really rattled the administration was the response from Hanumangarh, Suratgarh, Ganganagar and Bikaner in Rajasthan. Shankar Soni, a lawyer from Hanumangarh who has filed a petition in the Lok Adalat to get Punjab to crack down on polluters, said: “Since the canal began bringing water to Rajasthan, people in the rural areas have been drinking the water as it is, because our groundwater is brackish. Over the years, we’ve noticed a rise in the incidence of cancer, hepatitis and skin ailments. The water smells foul, and we realised that it is flowing into our areas from Punjab.”
Cancer is now endemic in about 100 villages on or in the vicinity of the Beas and polluted tributaries of the Sutlej such as Kala Sanghian, Buddha Nallah and Chitti Bein.
Much of the credit for fostering awareness about the issue in Rajasthan goes to Bhai Balbir Singh, who in 2009 undertook a tour of the affected areas and spoke to people about pollutants and their deleterious effects.
“It opened our eyes,” says Soni. Seechewal, who in 2008 was on Time magazine’s ‘Heroes of the Environment’ list. “Neither the industrialists nor the municipal corporations bother too much about the notices sent by the PPCB. And why would they, when the mayors of Ludhiana and Amritsar, and some of the industrialists, are themselves members of the board?”
One of the first to show solidarity with the industrial polluters’ lobby was Manoranjan Kalia, who, a little more than a month ago, was Punjab’s industries minister. Even as industry representatives have begun a dharna to protest the campaign, Kalia is offering assurance that he will arrange for them to meet the chief minister. This time though, it appears as if the old tactics may not work. For one, with elections due next year, and opposition parties like the Congress extending support to Bhai Balbir Singh, the Punjab government is wary of soft-pedalling the issue.
Now, with the people of Rajasthan beginning to point accusing fingers, the embarrassment has become hard to mask. As Bhai Balbir Singh points out, “Let the cities manage their effluents themselves. Villagers will not allow the waste to flow into their areas and ruin their lives.”
[Courtesy: Outlook]
June 20, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Harinder (Mohali, Punjab), June 20, 2011, 11:46 AM.
We love you, Sir, and are behind all your noble activities to make our earth a better place to live. May Waheguru give you all the strength you need to pursue your mission.
2: Satwinder Singh (Dublin, Ireland), June 20, 2011, 6:30 PM.
All the Sikhs in the diaspora should extend their support (financial and non-financial) to Bhai Balbir Singh Seechewal and Bhai Sewa Singh Khadoor Sahib-wale, instead of giving money to SGPC managed gurdwaras while on trips to India. Being born in and having lived in Sultanpur Lodhi, I know from my personal experience the change Bhai Balbir Singh ji's work has brought in the historic town. There was a time when people covered your face, held their breath, while crossing over the historic Rriver Bein. Now the whole city (men, women, children, young and old) goes out for morning and evening walks along the banks of the same river. The rich in the area are competing with each other to buy plots near it to build their mansions - many are the same ones who were opposed to Bhai Sahib's work in the first place.
3: Tarlochan Singh Mudhar (United Kingdom), June 26, 2011, 5:38 PM.
There are many people who have acquired the sacred title of "sant". Bhai Balbir Singh Seechewal deserves this title more than anyone. He is a man of action who has put his plans into action. He deserves our respect and support at all levels. I have seen the documentary many times over. This is a living example of someone who is doing his best to create a clean environment but without the support of the local government.
4: Gurinder Singh Johal (Amritsar, Punjab), June 26, 2011, 11:29 PM.
Bhai Balbir Singh ji has done a commendable job of cleaning the Bein. He continues to work like a warrior against polution. India's major problem is that the country's industrialista and businesssmen are not honest and do not recognize their civic responsibilty. I work as a tourist guide in Amritsar and I took some British tourists to Sultanpur Lodhi recently. They were much impressed, as everybody is, by the work done by Bhai Balbir Singh ji. May Waheguru bless him and give him strength and a long life.