Ghaggar River will be made pollution-free by the end of this year after 25 sewerage treatment plants becomes operational by December, said Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal on Wednesday.
Chairing a high-level review meeting, Kaushal informed that out of the proposed 25 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in 21 towns in the vicinity of the Ghaggar, eight, at the cost of Rs124.50 crore, are already functional covering Patiala, Banur, Samana, Bhikhi, Sardulgarh, Zirakpur and Mohali. The rest 17 STPs would be operational by December 2015, he said while adding that the completion of STP was prerequisite for cleaning the river.
“Construction of STPs within one year is mission envisaged by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also declared it as most preferred project under Swachchh Bharat Mission,” he said.
Kaushal reviewed the progress of STPs under construction including those at Mandi Gobindgarh, Rajpura, Moonak and Patran and asked the Sewerage Board officials to ensure total quality control in execution of these projects.
Issuing instructions to the Deputy Commissioners to clear impediments in land acquisition for the projects, especially at Sirhind, Nabha, Sangrur, Bassi Pathana, and Sanaur, the Chief Secretary sought action report within 10 days.
Two months back, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had urged his Haryana counterpart Manohar lal to jointly chalk out a time-bound action plan to clean the river and make it pollution free on war footing.
Kaushal said Badal has already issued instructions to pollution control department to keep a check on industrial effluents and now it was imperative for all Deputy Commissioners concerned to ensure completion of STPs within scheduled time.
He said that separately, UT Administration of Chandigarh was being requested to check the inflow of pollutants from Sukhna Choe to river Ghaggar “as the maximum source of pollution based on survey carried out by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) was this Choe”.
Sukhna Choe carries the discharge from various colonies, and villages in the vicinity of Chandigarh. Deputy Commissioners, representatives of local Bodies department, Sewerage Board, Urban Development Department, Municipal Corporations and other civic authorities were present at the meeting.