Sewage in Sukhna worries UT

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 27

The UT Administration has written a letter to the Punjab Government to make arrangements to stop the flow of sewage from the Kansal area in Punjab into the Sukhna Lake.

Experts are of the view that the weed problem is the result of the inflow of sewage from the area along the Sukhna Lake.

UT Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden Santosh Kumar said they had written to the Punjab Government to put in serious efforts to stop the sewage flow into the Sukhna Lake. The Administration will also raise the issue at the meeting of officials of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh Administration, he said.

Sources said though in the past, the UT Administration had written a letter to the Punjab Government, yet the issue remained unsolved.

According to information, the sewer line that passes through different areas of Punjab also passes through the Kansal area. In the Kansal area, there are some cracks in the line and from there, the water enters into the Sukhna sanctuary and further into the lake.

Sources added that as the water passed through fields before entering the Sukhna and pesticides, which farmers used in their fields, also entered the lake. The problem of polluted water increased in the rainy season.

At present, five types of weeds — pvallisneria spiralis, potamogeton crispus, hydrilla, ceratophyllum and typia — grow in the Sukhna Lake.

The inflow of sediments and sewage from the Sukhna’s catchments area under the territory of neighbouring state of Punjab has always remained a stumbling block for the UT to protect the waters of the Sukhna from being polluted.

The main landmark of Chandigarh, Sukhna Lake, was built in 1958 across the Sukhna choe and was conceived as a place of relaxation, seclusion and sport.

How Sukhna water gets polluted

The sewage line that passes through different areas of Punjab also passes through the Kansal area. In the Kansal area, there are some cracks in the line and from there, the water enters into the Sukhna sanctuary and further into the lake. Sources said as the water passed through fields before entering the Sukhna, pesticides, which farmers used in their fields, also entered the lake.

Weeds linked to pollution

In an affidavit filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court around two years ago, the UT Administration had stated that the flow of sewage from the Kansal area, which entered into the Sukhna Lake, had started resulting in severe weed problem in the lake. There was no planning for the disposal of sewage for houses already built in the area. The Naya Gaon Nagar panchayat is well aware of the natural slopes towards the Sukhna Lake, but has done nothing to save the water body.