Industrial wastes from the Parsa-Bara Industrial Corridor have become a major contributor to the pollution of Sirsiya stream.

Toxic wastes issued by factories and industries inside the corridor are directly released into the stream, giving its water a perpetually murky hue. There was a time when the water from this stream was used by the people in more than a dozen VDCs in Parsa and Bara for drinking and washing purposes. Not anymore. The stream resembles more an open sewer than it does a body of water these days.

Bijaya Kushwaha, of Prasauni village, said all efforts made so far to control pollution in the stream have fallen short. 

Eight years ago, a committee formed to mitigate pollution in the stream, had identified 48 sources as major pollutants; 46 of them were factories and industries inside the corridor. The committee had recommended the concerned factories and industries to install wastewater treatment plants. But the recommendation was largely snubbed. Hardly four industries heeded the committee’s advice. 

Gopal Kediya, senior vice chairman of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that not all industries inside the corridor can set up wastewater treatment plant.

“I am in support of controlling pollution in Sirsiya stream, but the reality is that only large-scale industries can afford to install wastewater treatment plants,” Kediya said. 

Jaspal Singh, chairman of Prakriti Sewa Pratisthan, however, claimed that self-interest and greed of the industrialists were responsible for the setback to the plan of controlling pollution in the stream. Besides the industrialists, he said, “the local authorities are also equally, if not more, accountable for the state of Sirsiya stream today. They have remained surprisingly quiet about the whole affair.”  

Asked about the alleged inaction, Parsa’s Chief District Officer Keshavraj Ghimire said he was planning meet his counterpart in Bara shortly to discuss measures to control pollution in the stream.