Worried over polluted river water flowing into the State, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has written to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh asking to check the polluted water inflow from different rivers, damaging the ecology of the State.
Badal in his letter to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister has said that samples taken from different rivers flowing from the hilly state, at several entry points of Punjab indicate alarming presence of chemicals especially from industrial waste. Punjab Chief Minister has requested his Himachal counterpart to take appropriate action regarding checking the pollution in river and insisted on Chief Secretary level talks between two States, to tackle the situation.
After receiving the letter, a high level meeting was held by Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Sudripto Roy recently and issues raised by Punjab were discussed at length. Chief Secretary gave one week time to Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Industries Department to file a reply concerning pollution in rivers with full data and figures.
During discussions in the meeting, it was found that there were five major points from where Himachal river water flows into Punjab in huge scale and has industrial areas on its bank from where some industrial waste enter into the river.
At Gualthai of Bilaspur district, the waste goes into river Sutlej, at Mehatpur of Una district the industrial waste goes into river Swan, at Paonta Sahib- Kala Amb of Sirmaur district the waste flows into river Markanda, at Parwanoo of Solan district the waste flows into river Gaggar and at Baddi- Barotiwala of Solan district, the waste flows into river Sarsa.
At the meeting, the Industry Department highlighted that at most of the industrial areas, the plants which are suspected of polluting the rivers have setup waste treatment plants and the question of industrial waste polluting the river does not arise but the pollution through sewage cannot be ruled out.
At Mehatpur, no such pollution problem has been found as no major industrial unit is without chemical affluent treatment plant, similarly at Baddi-Barotiwala, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) keeps a close watch on pollution.
“In seven days, both Pollution Control Board and Industry Department officials will visit these five major spots and take the water sample from the river at the entry points of Punjab and based on the report, a detailed meeting with Punjab Chief Secretary will be held,” said a senior official.