As part of prestigious River cleaning project of the state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today, reviewed the detailed report prepared by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on the basis of the findings of a high-level committee constituted by the Chief Minister to identify all the pollution sources still polluting the Rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar in the state.Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's office said that during a marathon discussions with the senior officers of the state, Mr. Badal directed the concerned departments to launch a massive awareness public campaign to avoid water wastage in domestic usage besides, ensuring water conservation through adopting Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) system in all the new residential houses being constructed in the state. He said that no new electric and water supply connection for these houses of ten marlas and above would be released without the construction of a standard and approved Rain Water Harvesting system. He further asked the officers to work out a plan to build-up such RWH system for all the state government institutional buildings.Expressing concern over the factors polluting Sutlej right from Nangal to the downstream besides Buddha Nallah in Ludhiana which was being polluted with inflow of 597 MLD industrial and domestic wastewater, Mr. Badal approved the up gradation of all the three existing STPs at Jamalpur of 48 MLD capacity, Bhattian of 161 MLD and Balloke STP of 257 MLD introducing modern technology, besides setting up of three more latest STPs. The Chief Minister also asked the MD Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board to prepare a comprehensive plan to upgrade all the existing STPs in the state besides, expediting the ongoing construction work of various STPs in the areas of Nangal, Ropar, Chamkour Sahib, SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur Jalandhar and Phagwara. Mr. Badal also asked his Special Principal Secretary to visit villages around Nangal along with other officers of the concerned departments to work out the feasibility of establishing more STPs for 22 villages.
Badal also directed the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL) to immediately release Power connections to all the new Pumping Stations of STPs in Ropar district and in future also keep release such connections on priority when ever and where ever needed in the state without any delay. Referring to the Dairies polluting Buddha Nallah, Mr. Badal advised the authorities to take strict action against the owners of the dairy farms across the banks, who discharged the Dairy waste into Buddha Nallah. To carry out the Buddha Nallah banks' beautification process, Mr. Badal also approved to work out a plan for allotting land or houses to already identified slum dwellers settled on these banks.
The Chief Minister also asked his Principal Secretary to contact CEO of Ludhiana Effluent Treatment Society (LETS) to explore the possibilities of capacity enhancement of the of CETPs in Ludhiana, besides chalking the modalities to introduce Super Succession Machines for the cleaning of Sewerages in various cities.In another significant decision, Mr. Badal asked the Ludhiana district administration to initiate the process to include all the villages around the city in the Municipal Corporation limits to ensure the provision of all types of civic amenities in the suburbs of the city.
The Chief Minister directed Secretary Science & Technology to closely monitor the entire river cleaning programme on regular bases and also to hold meeting with UT Chandigarh administration to resolve the factors polluting Sukhna Choe that ultimately leads to river Ghaggar pollution.Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included; Principal Secretary to CM Mr. SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary to CM Mr. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Secretary Science & Technology Mrs. Seema Jain, CEO Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) Mr. DK Tiwari, CA GMADA Mr. AK Sinha, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Mr. Ravinder Singh, Chief Soil Conservator Mr. BS Sidhu, Member Secretary PPCB Dr. Babu Ram, Chief Engineer Irrigation Mr. AS Dullet, Additional Commissioner MC Ludhiana Mr. Sumeet and MD PWSSB Mr. Sat Pal Angurala.