Skip to main content

Sustained struggle on survival issues forces closure of Zira polluting factory in Punjab, Bhagwant Mann asserts his authority

 


Sustained struggle on survival issues forces closure of Zira polluting factory in Punjab

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

At the time when the saving of environment  has become a global concern forcing the planners to adopt new path of pro-people development, the closure of liquor factory at Zira in border district of Ferozepur in Punjab ordered today by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is a momentous victory of  farmers’ led struggle on survival issues.

This factory was being blamed for pollution of ground water in the area impacting both animal and human life.

Mann said “No one would be allowed to spoil the environment of Punjab…Hence a big decision has been taken in peoples’ interest after consulting experts…I have ordered closure of Zira liquor factory and in future none would be spared for playing with environment”.

This is second major assertion by Mann within a week while it is second major victory in recent times for sustained peaceful mass mobilisation by the Punjab people at large led by the farmers on an issue that concerns each and every human being.

The Zira factory owned by a former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA has been operating for the last 17 years.

It was after some years that the symptoms of pollution of ground water appeared. The factory had been pumping waste water into the ground and claimed to observe all environmental norms. However, polluted water started coming out about a year back triggering mass struggle.

The dharna outside the factory led by Zira Sanjha Morcha started on July 24, 2022. Even Punjab and Haryana High Court had intervened directing the Punjab government to remove protesters from near the factory gate.

Of late, almost all the farm organisations in the state had started participating in this dharna turning it into mass struggle.

The people have finally won and that too on issue that concerns survival of human beings at large and the future of humanity.

Its importance can be assessed in case this case is expanded from micro to macro level. The  basic issue involved at the broader level is the very model of industrial and agricultural development adopted by the corporates whose  only motive is to maximise profits. This model has been coming into confrontation with the people even in countries like the USA.

Similar protests have been held in recent years in India by people against several projects and factories.

The Zira mass struggle has once again shown the path of confronting anti-people development models and policies through mass mobilisations.

It may be mentioned that earlier, the farmers’ mass struggle at the gates of Delhi for about a year had forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap the three farm laws that were perceived to be anti-farmer and anti-people.

The farmers struggle that was led by Punjab had acquired all-India dimension. However, the momentum of that struggle was lost after the victory due to miscalculation by some of the over-ambitious farmer leaders.

The Zira struggle had of late emerged as yet another platform for joint struggle.

It is time that a common platform is evolved by these organisations on a common minimum pro-people programme for the future.

At the governance level, this decision is second major assertion of his authority by Mann who has been under attack for getting dictated by his party leaders in Delhi. His graph had drastically come down virtually within weeks of the Aam Aadmi Party capturing power in Punjab with a massive mandate unprecedented in electoral history of this state. However, the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election held within four months of this victory showed mirror to Mann government as AAP failed to retain the seat that had been vacated  by Bhagwant Mann himself.

Earlier this week, he refused to succumb to the pressure from bureaucracy on the issue of corruption. Officers of both the IAS and the PCS cadre had protested against actions of the vigilance bureau in some corruption cases and the PCS officers had even gone on a week’s mass leave. The IAS officers too threatened mass resignations. However, Mann refused to budge forcing the bureaucracy to fall in line.

Bhagwant has finally given the much needed loud and clear signal that he has the capacity to deliver. Now he has to maintain the tempo.

 

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narra...
Post a Comment
Read more

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without a...
Post a Comment
Read more