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| After Pak bullets, pollution forces Chhamb refugees to migrate | | | GS Asgotra
Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 2: Four decades ago, when East Pakistan converted into Bangladesh, thousands of families from Chhamb sector falling in tehsil Akhnoor, were forced to leave their motherland and had to settle in various parts of Jammu.
No one other than these Chhamb refugees, could best understand the agony and pain of migration, who had lost all their immovable property in the war of 1971, and even their families split. Nearly 35 families had settled in panchayat Govindsar near Kathua Railway station in 1971 but a new demon- Industry pollution-has started haunting them and has been forcing them to migrate once again.
The clouds of poisonous smoke and mist which usually surrounds these houses, has taken the place of bullets and shelling from Pakistan side, while the dust particles present in the air, is making their life hell, making it difficult even to breath. Sitting in the courtyard, Bagh Choudhary (90) recalled that when he had settled in village Govindsar along with 35 other families, only three factories-Chenab Textile Mills (CTM), Bone Factory and a Steel Industry were in Panchayat Govindsar while all nearby areas were covered with green forest cover. Even during afternoon hours, one felt afraid to visit our house but as the industrialization in the area increased manifold, the prosperous life of Chhamb refugees has turned into a hell.
Recalling the experience of migration, Bagh Choudhary said, "Migration of 1971 had separated us (three brothers). My younger brother Faggu Ram settled in Ramgarh, another at Swankha Vijaypur and I at Govindsar Kathua", adding all the brothers had strong desire to live unitedly but ground realities made it impossible.
"Once again the clouds of migration have started looming large over my three sons as the pollution level in the area has increased to such extent that it is not possible to even breathe freely. Presently there are nearly 500 Industries in Panchayat Govindsar in comparison to three industries in year 1971. During night hours, mist, dust clouds and smoke emanating from industries engulf all the area", Bagh Choudhary said.
He further says that majority of Industries have been running in violation of norms set by Pollution Control Board (PCB) and have been draining out untreated waste water and smoke, making the life of villagers a nightmarish.
Another refugee, Gurdeep Sharma (50), a heart patient said that when they had settled in the area, the state government had given nearly 48 kanals of land to each family but the land was almost barren. Toiling hard, we had converted this barren land to fertile but under a well planned conspiracy the state government had also notified the area under District Industrial Center (DIC), making inroads for industrialist to set up industrial units.
With each passing year, new industrial units sprang up in the area and presently there are nearly 500 industrial units, which are functioning flouting environment related norms, degrading the quality of air and water.
"With increasing level of pollution, gradually some families have started shifting to some pollution free areas, signaling towards a fact that all would have to left the village and industrialists will grab all the land and we refugees would once again would have to migrate", he said.
He further said that they repeatedly informed to Pollution Control Board (PCB) regarding air and noise pollution but all the times the department concerned had been failed to control pollution, which shows that the industrialist has hand in gloves with the PCB and it was according to a well planned conspiracy to migrate the families to some other areas, so that industrialists would get land at cheaper price.
When this correspondent contacted District Pollution Officer Kathua, Deepak Abrol, he said that he was not authorized to impose penalty on violators besides could not provide any information regarding level of pollution in industrial Center Kathua. "The Higher authorities have not provided any instrument to us to measure the pollution level so to check the pollution level, a team of scientists usually come from Jammu and collected samples and impose penalty", he said.
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