Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday asked his Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda to take immediate steps for controling the discharge of pollutants into the Ghaggar river.
An official spokesperson here said, in a letter Badal informed Hooda that a recent survey conducted by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) revealed that from Nada Sahib Gurdwara (District Panchkula) the colour of the water was found changing downstream due to discharge of sewage and industrial effluent from the point of Panchkula near Bhankerpur village in District Mohali.

Besides, the wastewater of Ambala, Shahbad Markanda and about 100 villages of Haryana was also being discharged into the river.

Even the Saraswati river, which carries the flow of wastewater from Pehowa town and industrial wastewater of some paper and cardboard mills of Kaithal district, also enters into Punjab and pollutes Ghaggar River near Rasauli village in Tehsil Patran of Patiala district, he added.

Badal informed Hooda that Punjab has taken steps to stop the discharge of industrial effluent into the river and presently, none of the state's industry was discharging its effluent into the Ghaggar River.

>Seeking Hooda's personal intervention to make Ghaggar river pollution free, Badal said, the matter had already been brought to the notice of both the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board.