Monitoring Committee constituted by National Green Tribunal under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Justice Pritam Pal, Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court reviewed the progress of implementation of Action Plans for Clean River Sutlej, Beas & Ghaggar prepared by Department of Environment in compliance of NGT directions. The 5th meeting of committee was attended by Senior Officers of various departments involved in the implementation of Action Plans
The committee reviewed the water quality of rivers, functioning of various Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) located in the catchment area, Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs), Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) installed in Industries and various other development works w.r.t. abatement of pollution of Budha Nallah and Kala Sangrian Drain during the month of June, 2019. The committee took a serious note of deteriorating water quality of rivers due to untreated domestic & industrial discharge on account of non-compliance by 41% STPs to the prescribed standards during the month of June. Action taken on decisions of previous meetings and recommendation of field visits of the Committee by the concerned departments were also reviewed during the meeting. The committee also reviewed the progress for setting up of new STPs, CETPs, ETPs for dairy waste & treatment facilities in villages, reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation & other purposes, installation of online continuous monitoring stations & CCTVs for STPs and industrial units.
The committee observed that there is a need to build a holistic perspective for cleaning of rivers of Punjab by all the concerned departments through focused and time bound interventions. The committee directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to conduct regular inspections and take stern action against the water polluting industries. PPCB was also directed to expedite for setting up of 3 CETPs at Ludhiana for textile dyeing units. All the departments were directed by the committee to adhere to the timelines of the Action Plans. The committee cautioned the Officers/Officials of concerned departments to discharge their duties diligently failing which disciplinary action will be recommended against them by the committee.