Dumping waste in the water bodies will only increase health issues among residents – Astrologers  

Ludhiana, March 16, 2023: With an aim to stop the residents from dumping waste and religious material in the Sidhwan canal, Municipal Corporation (MC) organised a workshop on astrological remedies with a group of astrologers and members of different temple committees/managements at Circuit house on Thursday.

The workshop was organised in association with City Needs NGO, Jyotish Jagriti Sangh, Marshal Aid NGO and Lets Clean Ludhiana Foundation.

The aim was to appeal the astrologers to stop providing astrological remedies wherein the residents are asked to dump religious material or other items in the water body. Also the workshop was held to discuss ways about how the relogious material can be disposed off without dumping the same in flowing water.

The meeting was chaired by MC Zonal Commissioner Jasdev Sekhon and a number of astrologers including Jagmohan Mahajan, Rajan Sharma, Senior Vice  Chairman of Durga Mata mandir trust (near Jagraon bridge) Varinder Mittal, President of Sri Geeta Mata Mandir committee, Vikas Nagar (Pakhowal road) Pardeep Dhall among others participated in the meeting.

Industrialist Mridula Jain and Radhika Jaitwani from Lets Clean Ludhiana Foundation, Maneet Diwan from City Needs, Dr Puneet Gupta from Jyotish Jagriti Sangh were also present. 

Appreciating the efforts put in by Municipal Corporation for cleaning the Sidhwan canal, the astrologers also stated that dumping of waste especially plastic in the water bodies will not serve any purpose, rather it will result in health issues among the residents and their family members.

Astrologers including Jagmohan Mahajan, Rajan Sharma among others stated that apart from dumping the religious material or any other item in the water bodies, there are other remedies too, which can be followed by residents for their welfare. The religious material including flowers etc can be disposed off by burning them as per rituals. The 'Hawan ash' can be used in flower pots etc. 

Similarly some places should be designated in the city for the residents to hand over religious idols, so that those can be disposed off properly as per the rituals. Varinder Mittal from Durga Mata mandir trust (near Jagraon bridge) also volunteered for providing a space to keep the idols in their temple. 

The participants also deliberated upon installing hoardings along side the canal with a message from the side of astrologers to stop residents from dumping waste in the canal. 

MC Zonal Commissioner Jasdev Sekhon stated that the MC has recently cleaned major portion of the canal within city limits. The target to keep the canal clean cannot be achieved without the support of the residents. The astrologers have assured to discourage residents from dumping waste in the water bodies. More such workshops will be organised in the coming time to discourage the residents from dumping waste in the Sidhwan canal, buddha nullah and other water bodies.

1222 CAUGHT DUMPING WASTE IN THE CANAL: 
Starting from the month of January, 1222 residents have been caught dumping waste in the canal by the team of MC staffers and Marshal Aid volunteers. Hefty challans of upto Rs 5000 have been issued against 239 violators. The MC officials stated that it is surprising that the educated persons from the high class societies have also been caught dumping waste in the canal.