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“Nark hai eh [It is hell].”Kashmira Bai is talking about the Buddha nala, a waterbody polluted by industrial effluents that runs along her village and empties into the Sutlej river, just one hundred metres from her home.In her late forties now, Bai remembers a once clean river that people relied on for drinking water. Originating at Koomkalan village in Ludhiana, the Buddha nala passes through Ludhiana for 14 kilometres before merging with the Sutlej, next to Bai’s village of Walipur Kalan. “Asin tan nark vich baithe haan [We are sitting in hell]. Whenever there are floods, dirty black water enters our homes,” she says. “The water turns yellow overnight if kept in the utensils,” she adds.

On August 24, 2024, to protest the state’s apathy towards the people affected by the polluted waters, hundreds of people from all over Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, came together in Ludhiana to protest. Under the banner ‘Kale Pani Da Morcha&#39;  (protest against water pollution), it included affected people from areas along the Sutlej. ‘Spare Buddha dariya [river]! Spare Sutlej.’The uproar against the pollution in Buddha nala is not new, neither are the projects to clean it. It has been going on for at least three decades but to no effect. The first project –Action Plan for Clean River Sutlej – was launched in 1996; three sewage treatment plants (STPs) were set up at Jamalpur, Bhattian and Balloke villages.In 2020, the Punjab government set up a Rs.650 cr two-year rejuvenation project for the Buddha nala. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while blaming the previous government, inaugurated the state’s largest STP at Jamalpur and other projects worth Rs 315 cr for rejuvenation of Buddha nala.While the blame game continues, Kashmira Bai says that neither the government nor political parties have done anything to resolve the issue. Activists in Ludhiana have been bringing up this issue with the Punjab government time and again, but even after spending crores, the nala remains polluted, forcing people to take to the streets every now and then.Malkeet Kaur, 60, came to join the protest all the way from Ahmadpur in Mansa district. “The polluted water, the discharge by the industries into the ground is the reason for so many ailments plaguing us. Water is the basic necessity of life, and we should have access to clean water,” she said.

In Walipur Kalan, Kashmira Bai says the entire village is dependent on groundwater – bores go down to 300 feet and can cost upto Rs. 35,000 - Rs. 40,000 to dig. But even that does not ensure clean water for them, she says. Well-to-do families in these villages have water filters in their homes for drinking water, and they must be serviced constantly.Also from the same village, Baljeet Kaur, 50, lost a son to Hepatitis C. “Both my sons suffered from Hepatitis C and one of them died of it,” tells Kaur, mentioning that there are many patients in this and nearby villages.“We are protesting because if we still not wake up, our next generations would have no chance at a decent life,” said 45-year-old Rajwinder Kaur of Goniana Mandi in Bathinda. “Every household has a cancer patient now because of environmental pollution. These factories polluting Sutlej waters should be shut down. Our next generations can be saved only if these factories are shut down,” she adds.“Eh sadi hond di ladayi hai [It is a fight for our existence],” said activist Bibi Jeewanjot Kaur, an activist participating in Kale Pani da Morcha at Ludhiana. “It is a fight to save the next generation.”

Amandeep Singh Bains is an activist at the forefront of the movement. He says, “the root cause of the problem is not being addressed. The government comes up with projects to clean it, but why do they allow the industry to dump discharge in a water source at all? Pollutants should not enter the dariya [river] at all.” The Ludhiana-based lawyer adds, “the dyeing industry should be shut down.”Ludhiana has nearly 2,000 industrial electroplating units, and 300 dyeing units. Both have been blaming each other for the pollution in the Buddha nala. Badish Jindal, a Ludhiana-based industrialist said to PARI, “as per the Punjab Poisons Possession and Sale Rules, 2014, the administration has to keep record of sale and purchase of any poisonous chemicals. But the administration does not have such records.”He further said that the industries have to adopt Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), a water treatment process. “No industry waste, treated or untreated, should go into the Buddha nala,” he said.Devinder Sharma, agriculture expert, called for a complete shutdown of the polluting industry. Speaking to PARI, he said, “The industry has been polluting our rivers for 40 years and nobody seems to be bothered. Why are we welcoming dirty industry? Just for the sake of investment? Governments should invest in environmental safety and public health.”

Activists revealed that the dyeing industries had clear orders not to discharge any liquid, even the treated waste/water into the Buddha nala. This was revealed in the documents that came up recently during the NGT hearing. Activists ask why the Punjab Pollution Control Board PPCB remained silent on this for 10-11 years.Punjab’s activists are asking, “if Tripura can ban the polluting industries, why not Punjab?”

Buddha nala’s clear waters turn into a pitch black stream as it passes through Ludhiana and villages downstream. It joins the Sutlej, completely dark to the eye. The greasy liquid goes till Rajasthan before entering into Pakistan and then the Arabian Sea. The satellite imagery too clearly shows the difference between the waters of river Beas and Sutlej at Harike Pattan (barrage) where the two rivers meet.

In a response on August 13, 2024 (a copy of which is with PARI), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) replied to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the status of pollution in Buddha nala. It mentioned that three Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in the city have been found “not complying with the disposal condition stipulated in the environmental clearance issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.”CPCB further informed NGT that it issued directions to PPCB on August 12, 2024 to “take appropriate action including imposing environmental compensation. The PPCB in turn has admitted in an earlier report that the water from the Buddha nala is unfit for irrigation. “If it is unfit for agriculture, do you think it is fit for drinking?” activists argued.In a joint statement, the organisers of the protest march announced their plan to plug the Buddha nala on September 15, later pushed to October 1, 2024. After this ultimatum, PPCB ordered immediate cessation of treated effluent discharge from the three CETPs into Buddha nala, on September 25. However, as per reports, no such action has taken place.Instead of plugging the stream, activists organised a sit-in at Ferozepur road in Ludhiana on October 1 and gave an ultimatum to the government to act by December 3, 2024.“Every now and then someone comes and takes samples from the Buddha nala but hunda kuchh nahin [nothing happens]. Either this pollution should be stopped or we should be provided with clean water so that our next generation can live,” says Baljeet Kaur, disenchanted with the government surveys and promises.

The waters of the Sutlej run black

నల్లగా ప్రవహిస్తున్న సత్లజ్ జలాలు

ستلج کا زہریلا پانی

ਸਤਲੁਜ ਦੇ ਪਾਣੀਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੈਂਦਾ ਜ਼ਹਿਰ

কালো স্রোতের ঘূর্ণিপাকে গুমরে মরছে সাতলেজ নদী

சாக்கடையான சட்லஜ் நதி

କଳା ପଡ଼ିଗଲାଣି ସତଲେଜର ପାଣି

സത്‌ലജിലെ ജലം കറുപ്പ് നിറത്തിലൊഴുകുന്നു

सतलुज का ज़हरीला पानी

ಕಪ್ಪು ಬಣ್ಣಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸಟ್ಲೆಜ್‌ ನದಿ

સતલજ, તારાં કાળાં પાણી

सतलजच्या पाण्यात 'काही तरी काळेबेरे'

ক’লা হৈ পৰা শতদ্ৰুৰ পানী

करिया होवत सतलज के पानी

सतलुज के करिया पानी

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On February 13, 2024, Davinder Singh
Bhangu, a sociology student from Punjab, went to the Shambhu border with his
friends to join the farmers’ protest. When they reached at around 2 p.m., the
Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the police on the Haryana side of the border were
already in action. 

Davinder’s friend Taranveer Singh
says, “a rubber pellet hit him in the left eye when we were standing peacefully
in a group. Davinder fell immediately. As we tried to pick him up, the police
fired three or four tear gas shells at us.” It all happened around 3 p.m., within
an hour of their arrival at the protest site.

Farmers began their peaceful march
to Delhi on February 13, 2024, demanding legal guarantee for MSP (minimum support
price) among other issues. They were stopped at Shambhu border between Punjab
and Haryana by the police and RAF. Barricades had been set up to prevent
them from marching. When the farmers
tried to march on, they were attacked with tear gas shells and rubber pellets (Also
read: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/i-feel-imprisoned-at-shambhu-border/">&#39;I feel imprisoned at Shambhu border&#39;</a>).

Braving the pungent smoke from the
tear gas shells, Davinder’s friends sprang into action, quickly picking him up
while he bled profusely. They took the 22-year-old to the government hospital
in Banur in an ambulance, around 20 kilometres from the spot. The doctors there
referred him to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh where
his eye was operated upon on February 15. The doctors say there is little
chance of him regaining his vision in the left eye.  

Davinder’s father Manjit Singh, a farmer, told
the media that his son decided not to go abroad and instead stay and prepare to
join the police force.

The family owns eight acres of land
in the village of Sheikhupur in Patiala district and participated in the
farmers’ protest against the three farm laws at the borders of Delhi in
2020-21. Read PARI stories on the movement: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/protests-against-farm-laws-full-coverage/">Protest against farm laws: full coverage</a>.


Farmers at the protest site want to
know how the Haryana police are able to shoot pellets and tear gas shells in
the jurisdiction of Punjab. “If we are not safe in our state, where will we
be?” they ask and add that the police have targeted peaceful protesters. “The
Punjab government should do something,” they say.

A farmer leader, Guramneet Singh
told PARI that they raised this issue with the Punjab Police and even the Deputy
Commissioner. They were told that the police have spoken with their
counterparts in Ambala. But the tear gas shelling is yet to stop. 

More than 100 protesting farmers
have been injured due to the use of water cannons, tear gas shells and pellets.
Three have lost their eyes. The health minister even condemned the Haryana
police for its ‘unprovoked’ action on the farmers.

Jarnail Singh, a farmer from
Dhariwal village in the district of Tarn Taran was hit in the head during a laathi charge on February 13. The
44-year-old has received five stitches in the head, but does not wish to return
home. “Everyone is here protesting, why would I go home to my village,” he
says.

Dr. Mandeep Singh, who is running a medical camp
at the protest site said that they have tended to at least 400 patients with
injuries and ailments since the protest started.

Punjab’s health minister, Dr. Balbir
Singh, himself a practicing eye surgeon, has been visiting patients who have
been injured during the protest. On February 14, he announced that all treatment
costs of farmers injured during the protest will be borne by the Punjab
government. 

Several media persons have also been
heckled and attacked by miscreants at the protest site. To aid the press, and
to contain such miscreants, the farmer unions have appointed volunteers as pehredars or guards to keep a check.

The unions are also issuing media cards
authorised by them to the journalists coming to cover the protest. Farmer
leader Ranjit Singh Raju says it is for the safety of the journalists. The card
contains details of the journalist and is signed by a leader who is noting down
their details in a register.

Like Davinder, many at the protest
site at Shambhu border were also involved in the protests of 2020-2021. 

Baba Labh Singh, member of a kaar sewa team, lost his cousin during
the protest at Delhi border. “My cousin Ajaib Singh died of pneumonia at the
protest site. His wife had passed away earlier. His two children have been
orphaned,” the 62-year-old says, addressing a gathering at Shambhu border on February 18.

“During elections, these people come with folded
hands to us, but do not lend a listening ear when we come with our demands,” he
continues and adds that while governments come and go, people always have to
fight for themselves.

Harbhajan Kaur is a part of a group
of women farmers who have journeyed from Dugri in Gurdaspur. They travelled for
two days to reach the Shambhu border. “My son did not want to bring me,” says
the 78-year-old, “I said what will I do alone in the village? I will die before
anyone if it comes to that.”

She, along with other women from her
village, stayed at the Delhi borders during the 2020-21 protests. 

Not just people, there are vehicles
here that were part of the previous protest as well. A tractor at Shambhu
border has a line on it painted three years ago: “Haar paawange, haar puaawange…Sun Dilliye, par haar ke nahi jawange [Will honour you and will be honoured…Listen Delhi, but we will not return
defeated/dishonoured].” 

A quote on a car reads: “Jadon pata howe seeneyan ch chhek honge, odon jang jaan wale bande aam
nahion hunde [When it is known that there will be holes (through fire) in
the chest, the men who go to war then are not ordinary].” Farmer leaders temporarily halted the Delhi Chalo March on February 18, Sunday, in the evening, after the Union ministers pitched a new Minimum Support Price (MSP) proposal. After reviewing it, the farmers have rejected the proposal and will resume the march on February 21.

‘If we are not safe in our own state, where will we be?’

’اگر ہم اپنی ہی ریاست میں محفوظ نہیں، تو پھر کہاں ہوں گے؟‘

'சொந்த மாநிலத்தில் பாதுகாப்பில்லையெனில், நாங்கள் எங்கே செல்வது?'

‘ଯଦି ଆମେ ଆମ ନିଜର ସୁରକ୍ଷିତ ନୋହୁଁ, ତେବେ କେଉଁଠି ସୁରକ୍ଷିତ ରହିବୁ?’

'स्वतःच्याच राज्यातही सुरक्षित नाही, तर आणखी कुठे असणार?'

'സ്വന്തം സംസ്ഥാനത്ത് സുരക്ഷിതരല്ലെങ്കിൽ, പിന്നെ എവിടെയാണ് ഞങ്ങൾ സുരക്ഷിതരായിരിക്കുക?’

'ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲೇ ನಮಗೆ ರಕ್ಷಣೆಯಿಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದರೆ, ನಾವು ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು?'

‘हम अपने सूबे में सुरक्षित नहीं, तो और कहां होंगे?’

'જો અમે અમારા પોતાના જ રાજ્યમાં સુરક્ષિત નહીં હોઈએ, તો બીજે તો ક્યાંથી રહેવાના?’

‘गर हमन अपन राज मं सुरच्छित नई अन, त हमन कहाँ रहिबो?’

‘हमनी के अपनी राज्य में सुरक्षित नईखी जा त कहां होखब जा?’

'নিজের রাজ্যেই যদি নিরাপদ না থাকি, তবে আর যাব কোথায়?'

'নিজ ৰাজ্যতেই যদি আমি নিৰাপদ নহয়, তেন্তে ক’ত হ’ম?'

‘ਜੇ ਅਸੀਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਸੂਬੇ ’ਚ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਅਤ ਨਹੀਂ, ਤਾਂ ਹੋਰ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਹੋਵਾਂਗੇ?’

Shambhu Khurd, Rajpura Tahsil, Patiala District, Punjab, 140417, India

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“I try to find a way to fix everything.”



Sunil Kumar is a thathera
(maker of metal utensils). “People bring to us things that no one else has been
able to repair. Even mechanics bring their tools sometimes.”



He comes from a long line of people who have been working
with copper, bronze and brass to make a variety of metalware used as
kitchenware and in homes. “Nobody wants to get their hands dirty,” says the
40-year-old who has been a thathera
craftsman for 25 years now. “I work with acid, coal, and heat all day. I do
it because I am passionate about it.”



Thathera (also called thathiaars) are listed as OBC (Other Backward Classes) in
Punjab and their traditional occupation has been the moulding of metal into
different shapes including sturdy door handles and locks shaping non-ferrous
materials using hand tools. Along with his father Kewal Krishan, 67, he buys
scrap materials which are used in repair work. 




In the last few decades, the growing popularity
of ferrous materials like steel has changed the game for those who craft by
hand. Today, most kitchen equipment in homes is made of steel and the demand
for sturdy -- and the more expensive brass and copper -- has fallen sharply.

In Lehragaga town of Punjab’s Sangrur
district where Sunil and his family have been practising the craft for
generations, there were two other families of thatheras about 40 years ago. “There was another who had his shop
near the temple but he won a lottery of three lakh rupees and then left this
profession and closed his shop,” says Sunil, citing the lack of money as the
reason to quit. 



To keep going, thatheras
like Sunil Kumar have started working with steel – both repairing and crafting.




Sunil’s shop is the only one in Lehragaga where one can get
their brass utensils cleaned, repaired, and polished. Customers travel from
distant villages and cities for this purpose. Though the shop has no name or
signboard, people recognise it as the thatheras’
workstation.



“We have brass utensils at home but they are kept because of
their value – both sentimental and monetary value, not for everyday use,” says
a customer who has travelled from Dirba village located about 25 km
away, to get four baatis (bowls)
cleaned at Sunil’s shop. “Steel utensils lose their value after continuous use.
They earn you nothing on resale. Brass ones, however, remain valuable,” she
says.



Bringing brass items back to life is a popular request that thatheras like Sunil get. When we meet
him in September, he is working on utensils that are being passed on by a
mother to her daughter on the occasion of the latter’s wedding. The items
haven’t been used but the colour has changed over the years and now, Sunil is trying
to make them new again.



The cleaning process for brass utensils begins
with first checking for green stains caused by oxidation. The utensil is then
heated on a small furnace to remove those stains and as the heat turns it black
it must be cleaned with diluted acid; afterwards a tamarind paste is rubbed all
over and inside to restore the sheen. This changes the colour from brown to
reddish-gold.

After cleaning, Sunil uses a grinding machine to turn them
golden. “When we didn’t have the grinder, we used regmar [sand paper] to do the same,” he says. 



The next step is tikka
– dotting the surface of the
utensil in a popular design but some customers request a simple polish or a
specific design. 



Before dotting the kadhai
(a large utensil) that he is working on, Sunil polishes the mallets and hammers
to get clean, shiny dots on the utensils. The polished instruments gleam like
mirrors. He then places the kadhai on
a mallet and starts hammering it in a circular motion, bringing out a dotted,
glossy golden surface. 



Brass utensils which are not used properly or
used for a few years at a stretch, need cleaning and polishing for a golden
shine.

If used for cooking, the brass utensil needs to be coated
with tin – a process called kalai,
coating of the inner surfaces of brass and other non-ferrous utensils with a layer
of tin to prevent chemical reactions with food cooked or stored in them. 



‘Bhaande kalai kara lo!’ Just a few years ago, this was how
street vendors would draw in prospective customers wishing to get their brass
utensils coated in tin. Sunil says that if one uses the utensils properly, they
might go without kalai for five
years. Some people, however, get it done after about a year of usage.



During kalai, the
brass utensil is cleaned with diluted acid and tamarind paste and heated on a
flame till it turns hot pink. A tin coil is rubbed on its inner surface with a
sprinkling of what is popularly called nausadar,
a powdered mix of caustic soda, ammonium chloride mixed in water. Constant
rubbing with a cotton swab produces a white smoke and then magically, in a
matter of minutes, the inner surface of the utensil turns silver and the piece
is then dipped in cold water. 



In recent decades, steel utensils have gained
popularity over brass ones as the former are easy to wash, and there is no fear
of chemical reactions with food. While brass utensils are durable, even
considered valuable, they need specific care. Sunil advises his customers to
clean them immediately after use.

Sunil’s father, Kewal Krishan had moved to Lehragaga from Malerkotla some 50 years ago when he
was a young boy of 12. “Initially I had come for a few days, but then I stayed
on,” he says. Generations of the family have been involved in utensil-making –
Kewal’s father Kedar Nath and grandfather Jyoti Ram were skilled artisans. But
Sunil is unsure if his son will follow him: “My son will follow if he enjoys
it.” 



Already, Sunil’s brother has moved away from the family
occupation and now works at a private telecom company. Other relatives have
also moved into other shopkeeping businesses.



Sunil inherited the craft from Kewal Krishan. “My father was
injured when I was in Class 10. I had to stop my education and take up the
business to earn our livelihood,” he says as he hammers away at his utensils.
“As a schoolboy I used to come to the shop in my free time and experiment with
creating something or the other. Once I made a replica of an air cooler in
brass,” he shares proudly. 



The first piece he ever crafted was a small patila which he sold. Since then he says
he tries to build something new whenever he has time away from work. “I made a
money box for my sister, with a face designed on it,” he recounts. For his home, he has also made one or two brass utensils which are placed inside water containers for the benefits of the metal.

The thathera community in Punjab’s Jandiala Guru was recognised by
UNESCO under the category of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014. It is one of
the few places where the community and business of thatheras is still surviving, owing to the recognition from UNESCO
and the continued usage of brass utensils in gurdwaras across Amritsar. 



Large deghs
(utensil in which food is cooked) and baltis
(buckets) are still used in gurdwaras to cook and serve meals. However, some
gurdwaras have transitioned away from using brass utensils because of the
challenges in maintenance.



“We now primarily engage in repair work. We do not have time
to make new utensils,” points out Sunil, a serious shift from the time when
they made brass and bronze utensils from scratch. One artisan could make 10-12 patilas (food storage pots) a day.
However, changing demand, cost, and time constraints have shifted
utensil-makers’ focus away from production. 



“We do it on order, but we do not make and store them,” he
says and adds that big companies buy utensils and other products from thatheras and sell them at four times
the price. 



Thatheras set the price of brass utensils according to the
weight and quality of metal used, as well as the piece. For example, a kadhai may sell at Rs. 800 per kilogram.
Since brass utensils are sold at rates as per their weight, they fetch higher
prices than steel utensils.

“We used to make new utensils here. About 50 years ago, the government
gave us quotas to get zinc and copper at subsidised prices. But now the
government gives the quota to factories, not to small businessmen like us,”
rues Kewal Krishan. In his sixties, he spends his time supervising work at the
shop while also hoping the government will revive the subsidy.



Kewal explains how they traditionally made brass by mixing
together 26 kilos of zinc and 14 kilos of copper. “The metals would be heated
and mixed together, and put in small bowls to dry. Then the bowl-shaped metal
pieces were rolled into a sheet which was moulded into different shapes for
different utensils or craft pieces,” he says. 



In this region, there are only a few rolling mills left
where thatheras can get metal sheets
to mould for artwork or utensils. “Either we obtain it from Jandiala Guru in Amritsar (234 km
from Lehragaga) or from Jagadhari in Haryana (203 km away).
We get metal sheets which we then mould into utensils as per the customer’s
wishes,” Sunil explains. 



Kewal brings up the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pmvishwakarma.gov.in/Home/FAQ&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1699443504926296&amp;usg=AOvVaw3yKQH1TVhsmMU-1dpBfBM3">Pradhan Mantri
Vishwakarma scheme</a> (announced in September) under which the government will
provide up to Rs. 3 lakh collateral-free loan to artisans and craftspeople like
blacksmiths, locksmiths, toy makers and 15 others, but not thatheras. 



Income is uncertain in repair work- somewhere
around Rs. 1,000 depending on the day and Sunil thinks producing new utensils
could help their business. Of late, he has sensed some revival of interest in
brass utensils and is hopeful that the tradition will survive.