Ensure no untreated waste water ends up in choes: Chandigarh Chief Secretary

UT Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma today directed officials to ensure that no untreated waste water is released into choes or drains and solid waste is dumped only at designated sites in the city.

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Verma was holding a meeting to review the status of compliance of solid and liquid waste management with regard to directions of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of “Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2016 and other Environmental Issues”.

The performance of all sewage treatment plants (STPs) was reviewed during the meeting. Saurabh Kumar, Director Environment-cum-Member Secretary, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, gave information about the status of waste water generation and its treatment. The UT has the capacity to treat nearly 255 million litres a day (MLD) of waste water against nearly 232 MLD generated in the city.

Amit Kumar, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation (MC), spoke about the steps taken by the civic body like consultation with expert agencies to ensure that the STPs met the prescribed norms. He said the MC was taking all measures to make sure that there was no discharge of untreated waste water into drains and the entire sewage generated in the city was channelised to STPs for treatment. Weekly monitoring was being done to ensure strict compliance, he added.

“The laying of distribution network of tertiary treated water is in progress. As and when the network of tertiary treated water line is increased, more connections are released for parks, roundabouts, road berms, kanal houses, institutions, industrial units, etc,” Kumar said.

It was informed that the work of bio-remediation of legacy waste was in progress and likely to be completed by July this year. It was informed that leachate generated at the landfill site was being treated at two leachate treatment plants.

Issuing directions to expedite all pending works, the Chief Secretary said the departments concerned should ensure that no untreated waste water or solid waste ended up in choes. Action should be taken against violators, he said. On dumping of waste at non-designated sites, the Chief Secretary said CCTV cameras would be installed at vulnerable points in a phased manner to capture the violators. Action would be taken against them as per the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh Bylaws, 2018.

Verma also directed officials to keep a strict vigil on burning of solid waste in the UT. The MC should ensure complete segregation of waste by conducting surprise inspections and in case of non-compliance, fine should be imposed on violators, he said.