CHANDIGARH MAY 16:Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today constituted a task force consisting of officers from Punjab State Pollution Control Board, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, Water Supply & Sewerage Board to prepare a blue print for making Sirhind Canal free from pollution to achieve the objective of ‘safe drinking water for all’
Chairing a meeting to review the progress of different schemes of drinking water and sewerage in both urban as well as rural sectors here this morning, Mr. Badal asked the State Chief Secretary to make the entire programme to implement these schemes in a time bound manner. He also directed the Secretary Irrigation to jointly conduct a fresh survey of Sirhind Canal with Punjab State Pollution Control Board to identify the entry points of pollution caused by sewage, industrial wastes and garbage disposals before taking up the operation for its cleaning. He also entrusted the Executive Director of Punjab State Council for Science & Technology with the task to finalize the modalities to implement the schemes aimed at purifying water especially in the most polluted zones of the state with a high level of toxicity due to industrial pollutants and pesticides. He also asked the Secretary Water Supply & Sanitation to undertake proper monitoring of rural water supply schemes by application of Reverse Osmosis (RO), Silver Ionization and Ultra Violet techniques depending on the factor of water impurities.
Mr. Badal asked the task force to submit the report on the Sirhind Canal in the first phase within a fortnight and the remaining canals and drains in the second phase within a month. He assured that there was no shortage of funds for the implementation of the schemes of drinking water and sewerage. He also underscored the need for enforcement by the Punjab State Pollution Control Board to check the untreated industrial effluents in the rivers which were hazardous for the health of the people and consequently there was also a threat of out break of diseases like viral hepatitis and gastrointestinal infections. He asked the officers to device a methodology to make use of recycled water for irrigation purposes. The chief minister also directed the Chief Secretary to work out the modalities for these schemes in order to project its demand to the 13th Finance Commission.
Briefing the Chief Minister the Chief Secretary RI Singh emphasized the need to adopt a holistic approach to check the menace of water pollution caused by the industrial effluents and industrial wastes. He said that the upcoming housing colonies should only be given ‘No Objection Certificate’ provided if these colonies were properly installed with the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) as certified by the pollution control board. He also informed the Chief Minister that a detailed project report for these schemes could be posed to the World Bank for financial aid.
Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, Secretary Water Supply & Sanitation PS Aujla, Executive Director PSCST NS Tiwana and Chairman Punjab State Pollution Control Board Yogesh Goel and Managing Director Water Supply & Sewerage Board Pardeep Chaudhary.