Make water sample report public, demand Mangat village residents

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 9

Accusing officials of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, Ludhiana, of not making the water samples test report public, a group of residents from Mangat village along with an NGO staged a protest outside the office of the PPCB on Tuesday. The villagers said the officials are not revealing the test report for those water samples collected by PPCB team last month. The villagers said the water samples they had got tested at a different laboratory failed test.

Notably, the residents had earlier levelled allegations against a dyeing unit for polluting the groundwater in the Mangat village. Thereafter, a PPCB team collected water samples from four locations within the village on December 5. A few samples of water were also kept by the villagers at that time.

Sukhjeet Singh Gill, a villager, said they staged a protest demanding from the officials to provide water samples test report to them. “The PPCB had collected groundwater samples from our village more than a month ago, but the officials have not revealed the report to date. Today, when we went to stage a protest at PPCB office, the officials provided various excuses and were unwilling to share the PPCB’s report,” he said.

Gill further said they had got two water samples tested from the PAU. He said, “We presented report from PAU Ludhiana, where we had got two water samples tested. The PAU report clearly shows the failure of both water samples.”

They questioned as to why the PPCB is reluctant to disclose its own report. A member of a public action committee said the role of PPCB is under scanner for not disclosing the water sample report of Mangat village. They will make further plan to mark protest against the PPCB.

On the other hand, Pardeep Gupta, Chief Environmental Engineer, PPCB, Ludhiana, said they would analyse the report and subsequently submit it to higher authorities for further action. He mentioned that they have requested residents to allow them a few more days for the analysis of the report.

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#Environment #Groundwater #Pollution #Punjab Pollution Control Board PPCB