Ghaggar pollution: Seasonal rivulets still being polluted, admits Chandigarh admn

Failing to act on the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the UT administration is yet to plug all the discharge points that release polluted water into the three seasonal rivulets passing through the city.

In a report submitted before the environment standing committee of the administrator’s advisory council, UT stated that all the three seasonal rivulets still had discharge points, which continued to pollute them.

“On the N-choe, the administration identified a discharge point in Faidan village. There is a discharge point on Sukhna choe at Dhaka Colony near Raipur Khurd. Similarly, on the Patiala ki Rao, there are multiple discharge points in Sarangpur, Khuda Lahora and Khuda Jassu,” reads the report.

The report further states that all other discharge points on the choes have been closed.

In a bid to stop pollutants from entering the Ghaggar river, the NGT had directed the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) to stop the sewage being discharged into the seasonal rivulets. Polluted water from Sukhna choe and N-choe merge into the river near Zirakpur, which ultimately pollutes the river too.

Notably, the NGT had even warned the administration of imposing financial environmental costs on it if it failed to plug all the discharge points. It had also directed the Central Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) to make a fresh survey of such points. After the survey it was discovered that discharges were still being allowed in the rivulets.

UT adviser Dharam Pal, too, in September had also directed the MC and the UT environment department to come up with a definitive plan to stop discharge of sewage in the rivulets.

Monitoring stations for real-time assessment of water pollution

Meanwhile, the UT administration has installed real-time water quality monitoring stations at N-choe and Sukhna choe. A UT official said that the development comes on the directions of the National Green Tribunal.

The system monitors the pH value, the biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of water. The administration can live-track the pollution levels in the seasonal rivulet from the monitoring station.

Debendra Dalai, director, environment, said, “The MC is preparing a plan to stop the seepage, which is mainly concentrated in unauthorised colonies. We and the MC are keeping an eye on these discharge points. On spotting such points, they are immediately closed. But with no sewerage pipelines in these colonies, these keep cropping up. Now MC is considering, as a short-term solution, to deploy sewage collection trucks in these colonies.”