Concerned over pollution in Ghaggar river in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday sought "personal intervention" from his Haryana and Himachal Pradesh counterparts to take steps to prevent discharge of effluents from their states into the river.
Badal asked Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Himachal counterpart Virbhadra Singh for "immediately" taking effective steps to prevent the reckless discharge of untreated domestic wastewater and industrial effluents into drains, which ultimately join river Ghaggar in Punjab territory.
Monitoring the situation in a meeting of senior officers of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Badal stressed on the need to resolve the inter-state environmental issue with a broad perspective.
Chief Minister was apprised that the state board had surveyed the Ghaggar river along with catchment area. Starting from Nada Sahib Gurdwara in Panchkula district in Haryana, the river enters into Punjab near Mubarkpur village, where the colour of water found to be changing.
Further downstream, industrial and domestic waste water of Ambala, Shahbad Markanda and many villages in Haryana, located in the catchment area of Ghaggar river, was discharged into Ghaggar directly or through some storm water drains.
The colour of the water changes to blackish-brown downstream of confluence point of Sagarpara drain near Khanuri, Sangrur district. In addition, the wastewater of Jakhal and Ratia of Haryana was also discharged into the river, the board said.
likewise, Badal was also informed that the domestic sewage of towns namely Nahan, Parwanoo and Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh was also discharged into river Ghaggar.
Taking note, Badal asked the PPCB chairman to coordinate with his counterparts of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and that of Haryana and Himachal pollution control boards to carry out joint sampling from interstate points to know actual pollution load at these points so that effective measures could be taken up accordingly to combat this problem at the earliest.
Badal also said that he would take up this matter with Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil for taking timely measures to prevent pollution caused due to discharge of wastewater of Chandigarh city at various points.
Badal also asked Secretary Environment, Science, and Technology to flag up this issue with his counterparts of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for convening separate meetings with Haryana and HP Chief Ministers so that all pending interstate issues relating to river pollution especially of Ghaggar could be resolved permanently.