Ghaggar would be pollution-free by Dec 2015: Punjab CS

Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal today said Ghaggar river will be made pollution free by the end of this year after 25 sewerage treatment plants becomes operational by December.
It was informed after a review meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary, that out of proposed 25 STPs in 21 towns in the vicinity of Ghaggar, eight, at a cost of Rs 124.50 crore, were already functional covering Patiala, Banur, Samana, Bhikhi, Sardulgarh, Zirakpur and Mohali.
The rest 17 STPs would be operational by December 2015, he said.
The Chief Secretary said completion of the STP was prerequisite for cleaning the river.

He 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 Deputy Commissioners to clear impediments in land acquisition for the project - especially at Sirhind, Nabha, Sangrur, Bassi Pathana, and Sanaur - the Chief Secretary sought action taken report within 10 days, an official release said here.

Two months back, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had urged his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar to jointly chalk out a time-bound action plan to clean the river and make it pollution free on war footing.

Kaushal said Chief Minister 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 Chandigarh UT Administration was being requested to check the inflow of the pollutants from the Sukhna Choe to river Ghaggar "as the maximum source of pollution based on survey carried out by PPCB was this Choe".
Sukhna Choe carries the discharge from various colonies, and villages in the vicinity of Chandigarh.
Besides the Deputy Commissioners, representatives of Local Bodies department, Sewerage Board, Urban Development Department, Municipal Corporations and other civic authorities were present in the meeting.