Curtains are down on new projects in Kharar and Zirakpur in SAS Nagar district following the intervention of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) after the two towns failed to ensure zero untreated discharge.
The development comes in the wake of reminders and repeated failure on part of the municipal councils of the two towns to ensure zero discharge of sewage into the Ghaggar river. The PPCB has now asked the Local Bodies Department to put a full stop to ‘new projects’ till new sewage treatment plants are ‘installed and commissioned’.
The two towns, considered hotbeds of real estate in Punjab, are being held responsible for allowing untreated waste to enter various waterbodies, which eventually pollute the Ghaggar. Sources said the capacity of a sewage treatment plant (STP) installed at Zirakpur was of 17.3 million litres per day (MLD) while the one at Kharar had the capacity to treat 11 MLD of sewage.
The matter regarding the upgrade of the existing STPs and installations of new STPs and plugging of unauthorized outlets was being flagged at various levels, but no appreciable progress has been achieved in the matter to date.
The municipal councils of Zirakpur and Kharar giving a go-ahead to various new projects and sanctioned building plans of new projects and giving no-objection certificates for disposal of treated/untreated wastewater into sewer lines in the area, without considering the fact that the existing STPs were already overloaded, further polluted natural drains.
The capacity of the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Zirakpur is 17.3 mn litres per day (MLD) while that of one at Kharar is 11 MLD. The STPs were unable to deal with the existing water pollution load of the Zirakpur and Kharar towns. There is a gap of 17 MLD in the generation and treatment of sewage in both these towns, say sources.
