Dung carts shut Ludhiana’s Hambran Road in protest over dairy complex filthy lanes.

Ludhiana: Furious dairy farmers blocked a major transport artery with carts of cow dung on Monday, trapping hundreds of commuters in traffic to protest against a failing municipal sewerage.The three-hour blockade on Hambran Road highlighted a growing public health crisis in the Haibowal dairy complex, where raw sewage and animal waste have flooded public streets, threatening the hygiene of the city's primary milk supply.The demonstration began at 10am when dairy owners marched from their units and barricaded the road near the municipal corporation workshop. To maximise the disruption, protesters parked trolleys heaped with manure strategically across the lanes, causing traffic to back up for miles.Stranded commuters, including the elderly and those travelling for urgent work, were forced to navigate flooded alleyways or argue with farmers to let them pass. "The auto-rickshaw driver dropped us near the protest and refused to go ahead," said Satinder Kaur, a senior citizen left stranded on way to a nearby spiritual centre. "I cannot walk that distance at my age, and there is no other transport available.”Dairy farmers claimed local authorities had failed to honour past promises to clear the choked infrastructure and had double standard in enforcement. "Our streets are flooded with sewage and heaps of cow dung," said Paramjit Singh Bobby, chairman of the Haibowal dairy complex. "The authorities violate National Green Tribunal orders by failing to block industrial dyeing outlets while penalising agricultural operations.”The blockade lifted at 1pm after municipal corporation’s zonal commissioner Jasdev Sekhon arrived to negotiate an end to the standoff. Under the temporary truce, civic officials agreed to clear the primary blockage in an old drain running through the complex within one week.They will facilitate dairy farmers’ meeting with environmentalist and lawmaker Balbir Singh Seechewal and install digital water flow meters at select dairy units to gauge water usage accurately for future infrastructural upgrades.Despite the breakthrough, the complex remains a biohazard. A critical road connecting the local effluent treatment plant to the Buddha Dariya waterway remains submerged under toxic runoff, cutting off vehicular access and raising concerns over milk contamination.