Construction activity set to be regulated near Sukhna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22

Construction activities around Sukhna Lake will be regulated as the Chandigarh Administration is all set to declare the lake as a wetland under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.

Sources said detailed documents enlisting the activities to be prohibited in the area would be placed before the Chandigarh Wetland Authority, constituted by the UT Administration, tomorrow.

The 15-member authority was formed under the chairmanship of the UT Administrator with the UT Adviser as its vice-chairman.

A UT official said once Sukhna was notified as wetland, many activities in its vicinity would be prohibited.

Encroachment, setting up of any industry and expansion of existing industries, manufacture or handling or storage or disposal of construction and demolition waste covered under the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, discharge of untreated waste and effluents from industries, cities, towns, villages and other human settlements and any construction of permanent nature within 50 metres from the wetland will be banned. Poaching in the wetland area would also invite strict action.

Sukhna is facing threat to its existence from encroachments in its catchment area and pollution by discharge of sewage from the nearby areas.