Akali government dragging its feet from the uranium issue

The uranium hazard in Punjab has taken alarming proportions. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has found traces of uranium in groundwater samples collected from 13 new districts, including Tarn Taran, Moga, Barnala, Sangrur, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Ropar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Pathankot. The uranium content in these samples varied between a scary 0.1 and 153 ppb (parts per billion). The minister of state in the PMO, V Narayanasamy, has urged the Punjab government to find out whether the high incidence of cancer in the region had any connection with uranium presence in the sub soil.

Expressing concern about the lack of “desired urgency and seriousness” in dealing with the situation, a parliamentary panel has recommended the central drinking water and sanitation ministry’s intervention. The panel has said if the problem is not addressed immediately it will “cause incalculable damage to the health of people, livestock and environment”.

In response, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who also holds the drinking water and sanitation portfolio, has requested the Akali Dal government in Punjab to submit a detailed report on the situation on the basis of which the Centre will come up with corrective measures. But the state government is yet to respond to the request.

I am surprised that the Akali government, which claims to be the champion of Punjab’s cause, is dragging its feet on such a critical issue. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal always accuses the Centre of meting out a step-motherly treatment to Punjab. But, now a central minister is urging the Punjab government to simply submit a proposal following which the Centre would take steps to address the problem and the state is doing nothing about it.

The lives of thousands of villagers are at stake here and if the state government doesn’t  show some initiative it will spell doom for Punjab.