Karnal shocker: 46 villages polluting Yamuna

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 12

As many as 46 villages in Karnal district have been found to be polluting the Yamuna directly or indirectly.

A report of the Irrigation Department to Development and Panchayat Department says these villages are discharging waste water without treating into the river. Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said that on the basis of the report, the Development and Panchayat Department has chalked out a plan to treat waste water and started work on it.

Under the project, three and five ponds systems will be laid in villages where required. Besides, in some villages bio-remedial techniques and phytorid plant techniques will be adopted to treat water. Among the identified villages, six are in Gharaunda block, three each in Karnal and Indri blocks, seven in Munak block, 12 in Nilokheri block and 15 in Nissing block, said Ramphal Singh, SE, Development and Panchayat Department, Karnal Circle.

Ramphal Singh said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been stressing the need to use treated water in irrigation and fish farming and plans were afoot to use treated water for agriculture purposes.

Development and Panchayat Department, Karnal Circle, XEN, Karnail Singh said two villages — Kachwa and Kohand — had a population above 10,000 and the Public Health Engineering Department will build sewerage treatment plants there. The department will ensure waste water is not discharged without treatment in the Yamuna, he said.

In three villages — Halwana, Narayana, and Khorakheri — there is no land for a pond, so the department will implement phytorid plant technique in these villages. In Prem Khera village, a three-pond system has already been set up and the water is being treated, he said, adding that a five-pond system was near completion in Sultanpur village. “With these initiatives, only the treated water will be discharged in Yamuna,” he added.