Patiala, December 2, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Chairpersons Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Pritam Pal along with members Sh. S.C. Agarwal, IAS, Former Chief Secretary, Punjab; Ms.Urvashi Gulati, IAS, Former Chief Secretary, Haryana of Monitoring and Executing Committees constituted by the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal for monitoring of action plans for cleaning of river Sutlej, Beas &Ghaggar and action plan for management of solid waste in the State, reviewed the progress regarding status of implementation of the activities of above action plans relating to District Patiala.
The Committees visited the in-situ remediation provided in Sirhind Choe for treatment of wastewater of Bhadson Town and the Committees appreciated the efforts made by the PPCB and suggested to explore the possibility of putting up another variety of aquatic plants in the in-situ remediation, which has less footprints for their disposal after harvesting.
Justice Pritam Pal, Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court desired that PPCB shall explore other cost effective technologies, which can be easily implemented for in-situ remediation for the towns where sewage treatment plants (STPs) are under planning and require a long time period for installation to ensure the compliance of the directions passed by the Hon’ble NGT.
The Committees also visited the material recovery facilities (MRF) and composting pits installed by Nagar Panchayat, Bhadson and shown their satisfaction regarding the efforts made by the Nagar Panchayat for handling of the solid waste.
Besides, the Chairpersons and members of the Monitoring/ Executing Committee, Chairman PPCB,Prof. S.S. Marwaha; Member Secretary Sh. Krunesh Garg, PPCB; ADC (D), Patiala Ms.Preeti Yadav, IAS; Technical Expert Dr.Babu Ram and other District Level Officers accompanied the Committees during visit.
Prof. Marwaha, Chairman, PPCB informed the Committees that Cost Effective Technologies have been evolved for treatment of wastewater of rural areas and the treatment systems, which have already been commissioned, are showing encouraging results. He also informed that other drains are being identified for providing in-situ remediation. He assured the Committees for effective implementation of action plans as per the timelines.
Subsequently, the Committees visited the municipal solid dump at Sanauri Gate area, Patiala. The Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Patiala Smt. Poonamdeep Kaur, IAS, explained the efforts made by them for management of solid waste like segregation, setting up of mechanical separators for handling of legacy waste and utilization of segregated components of the solid waste for the various purposes.
She also informed that as per the agreement executed with the Company, the entire waste shall be cleared from the dumping site within 16 months.
She further informed that two additional mechanical separators alongwith other required machinery will be installed shortly. Lastly, she explained about the composting of solid waste with windrows.
The Chairman of the Monitoring Committee Hon’ble Justice Jasbir Singh, former Judge Punjab & Haryana High Court while citing the orders of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, emphasised that Municipal Corporation and other Local Bodies shall expedite all the activities relating to handling of solid waste.
In the morning, Sh. Kumar Amit, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala received & welcomed the Monitoring/Executing Committees on their visit to district Patiala.
