Pollution control board to study waste disposal mechanism

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 30

Officials of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) have decided to study the mechanism of waste disposal in Parwanoo, Kala Amb and Kasauli.

During an inter-state meeting between officials of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh, officials of the Haryana government had complained that untreated waste from the bordering towns entered their water bodies. 

It was learnt that sewage from sectors 1, 2 and 4, Taksal village and Dagger in Parwanoo was disposed into the Sukhna Nullah while the waste from sectors 5 and 6 was dumped into the  Kaushalya river. 

The Sukhna Nullah that joins the Ghaggar near Surajpur opposite the Kaushlaya Dam supplies drinking water to Haryana. 

Since the levels of BOD and COD in the Sukhna Nullah were above the permissible limits, the SPCB had directed the Municipal Committee, Parwanoo, to set up a sewage treatment plant. 

Even the Central Pollution Control Board has directed all municipal committees to put in place sewage treatment plants (STPs), the Parwanoo MC is yet to present its plan to the SPCB. 

The MC officials had  taken up the issue of setting up of the the STPs  with the Urban Development Department but its final action plan was yet to be submitted to the SPCB. 

The cantonment town of Kasauli, which has a population of 3,838,  lacks a community  sewage treatment plant and since it is looked after by the cantonment board, no mechanism has as yet been devised to ensure scientific disposal of sewage from households. 

The Jatanwala Nullah is used to dispose of sewage and waste of the industrial town of Kala Amb in Sirmaur district. 

The SPCB officials will now  assess the  quantum of waste generated and disposed. It will also check if the water is being contaminated.