RO plants suffer neglect in Malwa

Bathinda/Mansa, About 140 government-installed community reverse osmosis (RO) plants in Malwa have been shut while hundreds are facing closure as the seven-year maintenance agreements signed with three private companies have expired or are nearing expiry.
Over 1,800 RO plants were installed in the state during 2009 and thereafter by the then SAD-BJP government, including 1,075 in Malwa.
Panchayats are unable to take over the expensive RO operations due to their poor fiscal position.
The Malwa region faces shortage of safe drinking water due to polluted groundwater owing to years of overuse of pesticides by farmers.
Mansa is the worst-hit district as far as RO operations are concerned. The RO plants at 47 villages of this district have been closed. It is followed by Bathinda, where 32 RO plants faced closure.
Some of the plants installed in these two districts are still in operation due to local-level contract arrangements put in place by the administration. RO plants at Atla, Borawala and Saidewala in Mansa had been awaiting repair for long.
In Abohar and Muktsar, such plants at 29 of the total of 290 villages are closed whereas maintenance agreements of 140 others have expired. “Nearly 300 other RO plants in these two areas are on the verge of closure,” said an official.
Eight of the total 131 RO plants installed in Sangrur district are dysfunctional. In the adjoining Barnala district, 14 of the 76 RO plants have been closed.
Jaswinder Singh, general secretary, RO Plant Workers’ Union, said several employees had lost their jobs due to closure of RO plants.
Public Health Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said his department was making efforts to start operations at closed RO plants. “Making these plants operational is our priority,” he said.