Badal to take up Ghaggar river pollution with Patil

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal will seek intervention of Punjab governor and UT Chandigarh administrator Shivraj V Patil for taking effective steps to prevent flow of industrial effluents and domestic waste into drains which is polluting Ghaggar river.

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal will seek intervention of Punjab governor and UT Chandigarh administrator Shivraj V Patil for taking effective steps to prevent flow of industrial effluents and domestic waste into drains which is polluting Ghaggar river.

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A decision to this effect was taken by Badal while presiding over a meeting to review the progress of the Ghaggar river cleaning project along with Lissara and Chand Bhan drains, said an official release here on Monday.

According to the mapping undertaken by the Punjab Pollution Control Board(PPCB), various industrial and domestic sewer outlets within the jurisdiction of Chandigarh resulting in heavy pollution of river Ghaggar with about 2 million litres per day (MLD) discharge of untreated waste water.

These sewer outlets include IT Park, Kishangarh, Bhagwanpura, Shastri Nagar, Bapu Dham Colony, Madrasi Colony and Hallomajra, the release said.

Badal would flag up this issue with the Union Territory Administrator so that proper treatment mechanism could be put in place by the UT before discharging this waste water in the Sukhna Choe which is polluting Ghaggar.

On the Punjab's side, PPCB has identified various waste water outlets and planned to install Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) at a cost of Rs 9.65 crore at Zirakpur and Dera Bassi to ensure zero discharge of effluents in Ghaggar.

To check the inflow of untreated industrial as well as sewer waste water into the Ghaggar from Haryana, the senior officers of both the states had already organised several meetings for which Badal asked the concerned authorities to expedite the process and resolve the issue in a result oriented manner, it added.