Governor pulls up officials for poor condition of ETP

Reiterating commitment to clean the Buddha Nullah, Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria reviewed the Buddha Dariya Rejuvenation project during his visit to the city on Saturday.

However, he pulled up officials for the poor condition of the effluent treatment plant (ETP) on Tajpur Road. The Governor while showing displeasure over the issue said the condition of the ETP was same when he witnessed it during his last visit. There should have been an improvement by now, but least was done by the officials concerned.

The Governor while taking note of the situation, pulled up the officials who tried to calm him down by saying that a bio CNG plant on Tajpur Road would be soon operational as the same was in a tendering stage. The Governor said: “Even during his last visit, officials told me that tenders of the CNG plant had been floated and soon the problem of cow dung, which is affecting the working of the ETP, will be solved once the plant becomes operational. I have been listening the excuse at my every visit.”

Meanwhile, the officials told the Governor that 50 per cent of the cow dung, which was being generated from the dairy complex on Tajpur Road, was still flowing into the drain, further escalating the problem at the ETP. The Governor told the officials that when dairies were not allowed in the city, why the officials failed to convince dairy owners to shift them out of the city. Dairies are adding cow dung daily to the drain, adding bottlenecks for the Buddha Dariya rejuvenation project and the practice should be stopped soon.

He also lambasted Punjab Pollution Control Board officials for failing to monitor the TDS level of the drain, which the officials were told to monitor after every km.

The Governor was accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, Mayor Inderjit Kaur, MC Commissioner Neeru Katyal Gupta and other officials.

Kataria also took a boat ride with Seechewal and other officials in the Buddha Dariya near ‘Sangat Ghat’ on Tajpur Road. The ghat has been established by Seechewal under the ongoing ‘Kar Sewa’.

Later, the Governor held a meeting to review the rejuvenation project at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) wherein Seechewal, MC Commissioner, DC Himanshu Jain and officials of the PPCB, Sewerage Board and Soil Conservation Department were also present.

He said he had been holding regular review meetings to ensure that plans to rejuvenate the Buddha Dariya were executed in a proper manner.

The Governor said the dariya holds historic and religious importance too and no one could be allowed to pollute its waters. Stating that a progress had been seen at the ground level, he directed the authorities to further tighten the noose around violators, wherever required.

Appealing to residents to support the authorities in reducing pollution in the dariya, the Governor said he had monitoring the progress on a regular basis.