Three ‘release’ contaminated water into Ghaggar, booked

Patiala, March 3

Prompted by villagers, the Patiala police have registered a case against three individuals for fouling the water of a public spring or reservoir. The suspects were allegedly found dumping chemical-mixed water into Ghaggar river near Jallakheri village here.

Later, officials from the Punjab Pollution control Board (PPCB) also visited the site and collected water samples from the river on Friday.

Police officials said villagers of Jallakheri village had on Tuesday complained against three individuals and alleged that they were involved in dumping chemical-mixed water into Ghaggar river from a water tanker.

Gurwant Singh of Jallakheri village in Julka here said: “I was on my way home when I saw these individuals dumping the chemical-mixed water into Ghaggar river with the help of a discharge pipe. We caught two of the culprits and handed them over to the police.”

He added that villagers then themselves took the canter to the Julka police station.

Later, the police registered a case against Honey, a resident of Devigarh, Jasvir Singh of Budhanpur in Haryana and Amandeep Singh of Faridpur village in Julka under Sections 277 and 278 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Rohit Singla, an environmental engineer at PPCB, said a team from the office visited the site on Friday.

“We visited the place and collected samples of water. The matter was discussed with the district administration as well. We also met the villagers. No discharge pipeline was found at the site, but we have collected water samples from the river and sent them to our lab”, he said.

Pollution Control Body collects water samples

Rohit Singla, an environmental engineer with the PPCB, said a team from the office visited the site on Friday. “We collected samples of water. The matter was discussed with the district administration

as well. We also met residents of the villager. No discharge pipeline was found at the site, but we have collected water samples from the river and sent them to our lab,” he said.