HC orders retesting of water for uranium contamination

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 24

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered comprehensive retesting of water samples for uranium contamination in the Doaba and Majha regions due to discrepancies found in standards used. The court made it clear that the testing was required to be done in accordance with the updated World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

The direction by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal is significant as some samples put to test in the two regions were found to be contaminated with traces of uranium.

Taking up the petition filed way back in 2010 against the Union of India and other respondents by Brijender Singh Loomba, the Bench asked senior counsel and amicus curiae Rupinder S Khosla to file an application impleading the State of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh so that samples could be tested in these areas as well.

The Bench, during the course of hearing, took note of an affidavit filed on behalf of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant Chief Engineer stating that 11 samples, of the 4,406 tested, were found to be contaminated with uranium in districts such as Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Tarn Taran. The tests were based on the 60 parts per billion (PPB) (60 µg/l) standards recognised by the atomic energy regulatory body.

Another report by Punjab Department of Local Government mentioned three of the 269 samples tested in the Doaba and Majha were found to be ‘infected with traces of uranium’. The standard applied for this round of testing was 30 µg/l.

Taking note of the two reports, the Bench asserted the WHO had apparently revised the standards of testing uranium content in water to 30 µg/l. “The tests have to be re-conducted based on the current standards recommended by the WHO,” the Bench ordered.

Virtually placing the government in dock for not taking concrete steps to ensure supply of uranium-free water in the Malwa region despite a lapse of nine years since the matter was brought under judicial scanner, the HC in December 2019 had not only directed for the constitution of a Principal Secretaries’ committee, but also provision of ‘clean’ potable water. Directions were also issued to the Union of India and the state government to explore the possibility of deactivating the uranium. Among other things, Loomba was seeking relief for affected individuals in the villages of Bathinda, Faridkot, and Ludhiana as a result of the presence of uranium in water, as well as the source of contamination.