Exhort use of treated water for construction work: National Green Tribunal to administration

Amritsar, August 23

The monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has instructed the district administration to encourage the use of treated water for construction work, spraying and irrigation, besides taking measures to conserve underground water.

Led by monitoring committee Chairman Justice Jasbir Singh (retd), the committee reviewed the progress of the ongoing projects here on Tuesday. The committee received information from officials concerned about the garbage collection going on in the district and the Amritsar MC and other urban local bodies. He instructed the officials to ensure the use of treated water for construction work in the district.

Presiding over the meeting at the District Administrative Complex today, he said there was a ban on the use of groundwater for construction work. He said providing treated water at a reasonable cost for construction works would not only help in conserving groundwater for future generations, but will also increase the revenue of MCs and councils.

The Chairman along with former chief secretary SC Agarwal, Babu Ram, Deputy Commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan and other commission members discussed different matters, including usage of treated water for spraying before cleaning the roads. He said the treated water could also be used for irrigation and the departments concerned should conduct a vigorous campaign to motivate the farmers in this regard.

Justice Jasbir Singh also issued instructions to the MC officials to install CCTV cameras at the dump sites and they should be fenced. He said wet and dry waste should be collected separately from each house. Besides, another box should be installed in the garbage carts, in which electronic equipment should be collected.

He asked the MC officials to ensure manual cleaning at least twice a day within the city. The Chairman said some places under the Smart City should be marked to bury dead animals. He stressed on planting more plants in the green belt.

He asked Dr Kiran Kumar, Health Officer of the MC, to issue as many challans as possible against the usage of single use plastic. Dr Kumar said 455 challans had been issued and a large quantity of such items have been seized.

The Chairman expressed displeasure over the slow progress of the solid waste management project, sewage treatment plant, common effluent treatment plant, source segregation of garbage and other works. He directed the authorities to complete the work on time.

SC Aggarwal, another member of the visiting committee, said scientists had warned that if the temperature of the earth increases by another two degrees then its repercussions would be disastrous.

Meanwhile, a three-member team of the NGT also convened a meeting of officials of Tarn Taran district to give them instructions regarding the safety of the environment.