Punjab achieves 100 pc door-to-door collection, segregation of solid waste

Chandigarh : The state has achieved almost 100 per cent door-to-door collection and segregation of municipal solid waste.Besides, the state has prepared 14 district environment plans to address the problem of pollution at the district level.This was disclosed by the Chief Secretary, Vini Mahajan, after her discussions with the NGT-appointed monitoring committee for the Sutlej and Beas rivers, under the chairmanship of Justice Jasbir Singh (Retd.).She assured the Committee that the state   government was taking all possible measures to ameliorate the environment and was committed to provide clean and safe potable water to the citizens in the state.Ms Mahajan also assured that the state government would intensify its efforts for the management of solid waste,  including biomedical waste and plastic waste, in the agrarian state.The panel, comprising former Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal, environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal (both members), and technical expert Dr Babu Ram, briefed the CS about the various environment related issues concerning the state with specific reference to improving the water quality in the  rivers and waste management in urban and rural areas.

The committee was constituted on the behest of the National Green Tribunal to specifically look into various environmental issues in 2019.The most significant achievement by the State in the last 2 years was the improvement in the water quality to the desired level (Class-B) in two stretches of Beas river, which has become the only river in the entire country to achieve such standards.Apart from this, the work to the tune of Rs 500 crore, pertaining to setting up of sewage treatment plants and effluent treatment plants for dairy waste to address the problem of pollution in  Budha nullah, one of the dirtiest tributeries of Sutlej river, passing through most parts of Ludhiana.It is expected that after commissioning of these plants, the river water quality of Sutlej will improve significantly.Besides, 105 MLD capacity Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) have been set up to check industrial pollutants entering into Sutlej river.The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Water Resources, Principal Secretary Local Government, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board, and Directors of Rural Development and Panchayats and Environment and Climate Change.