Filth finding its way into Sukhna Lake

Saurabh Malik

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10

It’s confirmed. Filth is finding its way into Sukhna Lake. As the save Sukhna case came up for hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the authorities concerned admitted that waste water from bathing cattle and cleaning open areas was being discharged by villagers into the storm water disposal network with its end in the Sukhna choe.

In an affidavit placed before a Division Bench of the High Court, Superintending Engineer, UT Public Health, Rajinder Singh Ahluwalia claimed that residents of Kaimbwala village had been persuaded to use the waste water for irrigating their agricultural land, and the possibility of diverting the entire waste water discharge of the storm water drainage system into the Sukhna choe was being explored.

Ahluwalia said sewage from Kaimbwala was not flowing or being discharged into the Sukhna choe or the lake, and the village was having a proper sewerage connected to the municipal sewerage. However, the waste water of courtyards was being discharged by the villagers. He said waste water was collected in a sump having a 5,000 gallon capacity. It was being pumped back into the existing sewerage connected with the municipal sewerage. He claimed that the Engineering Department had also located the points where waste water was missing into the storm system. It had diverted the waste water from the storm water drainage system to the existing sewerage, “thereby reducing the waste water flow into the Sukhna choe”.

Taking note of the affidavit, the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Augustine George Masih asked senior advocate ML Sarin and amicus curiae Tanu  Bedi to verify the contents.