Days after MP was charged, locals are against the corpse factory once again

Many locals gathered around the MC’s corpse utilisation factory on Sunday, a day after Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and more than 100 unidentified individuals were charged for allegedly closing the facility at Rasulpur Patti village, which is close to Noorpur Bet village.

Bittu also spoke to those who had been against the plant’s inauguration.

Remarkably, on January 15, 2024, the Municipal Corporation, with assistance from the police and administration, successfully launched the corpse utilization facility after more than two years of labor. On January 25, however, it was locked, and it’s still not working.

Once again on Sunday, a number of villages voiced their objections to the matter, fearing that its implementation would cause them further hardships and health issues. They said that the facility was established on land set aside for agriculture close to homes and questioned the filing of a FIR in the case involving the lockup of the carcass plant. They said that it would possibly release offensive odors and pollute groundwater.

Rasulpur Patti resident Balbir Singh said that they oppose the plant being put back into service.

He said that in the past, authorities had deceived them by saying that the Municipal Corporation planned to set up a facility to provide feed for poultry and birds. But they discovered that it was really a carcass utilization facility when it was built a few years ago. Balbir claimed that the gram panchayat had not given the MC permission to establish the plant.

The factory for using carcasses was created under the Smart City Mission during the previous Congress government’s tenure, at an approximate cost of Rs 7.98 crore. On July 13, 2021, the project was scheduled to be officially launched in front of MC authorities by then-Minister of Cabinet Bharat Bhushan Ashu and then-Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu. Nonetheless, a sizable contingent of residents from Rasulpur Patti and the surrounding villages, as well as union members, had assembled to protest the plant’s opening. The plant could not be turned on at that time due to widespread public outcry. After that, the MC tried in vain many times to get it working.

A city dweller filed a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last year, objecting to the non-operational corpse utilisation factory and the careless treatment of deceased animals. The plant remained non-functional, thus, the NGT then ordered the state PCB, CPCB, and MC Commissioner to take the required actions and submit an action-taken report.

On January 15, 2024, the plant was put into service amidst protests, one day before to the hearing in this case. The demonstrators said that they would only allow the plant to run for a week on the same day. MP Bittu and others are said to have closed it on January 25.

As per the NGT judgment dated March 5, the MC Commissioner submitted a new report to the Tribunal, which indicated that the carcass factory commenced operations on January 15, 2024, and continued to operate till January 25, 2024. Enclosed with the report are correspondences from the MC head to the Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana stating that on January 25, a group of villagers and political figures entered the carcass factory, intimidated the workers, and shut it. The NGT Bench said during the hearing that no action had been taken against individuals who had forcibly forced the plant’s closure via unlawful means. The specifics of any such FIR, as well as the identities of those in charge, have not been made public.

As per the NGT ruling, the state chief secretary was required to virtually present on the next hearing date and apprise the tribunal of the measures taken by the state authorities to guarantee the seamless operation of the carcass factory. The following hearing is now scheduled for April 5.

Jan. 15 opening; closed after ten days

On January 15, 2024, the Municipal Corporation, with assistance from the police and administration, successfully opened the carcass utilisation factory in Rasulpur Patti after more than two years of work. On January 25, however, it was locked, and it’s still not working.