The rivers passing through Punjab will be free of pollution by next year, said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in the Assembly on Thursday. The issue came up during a discussion on pollution affecting the local people of the State. He assured the House that all the on-going works relating to cleaning of river waters in Punjab would be completed by November 30 and not even treated water would be allowed to discharge into these rivers.

Badal said: “I myself feel that Punjab is suffering from air and water pollution for such a long time. We need to take the initiative separately to curb the problem. I can assure you that Punjab will be pollution free in the coming year.”

Replying to a resolution moved by Ishar Singh regarding industrial pollution in major towns, Badal said the Government was conscious of the issue and had taken proactive measures regarding industrial pollution and cleaning of rivers.

The waters of the rivers of Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar are being polluted by the untreated effluents of the factories and sewage of the cities and villages. This water is being used for irrigation and drinking purposes by the people living downstream, which can be one of the reasons for chronic diseases like cancer and hepatitis, he said.

The SAD-BJP Government had drawn up a project for laying of sewerage system and sewage treatment plants in 44 towns that were discharging their waste into rivers at a cost of `2054 crore. The drinking water facility in these towns will also be provided or upgraded as required.

Badal apprised the House the State Government had already spent `238 crore and the balance funds were being tied up. He said that treated water from all the sewage treatment plants would be used for irrigation. Moreover, waste water from the villages of Dholran, Bassi Gujaran and Garhi Tarkhana, which was earlier being discharged into river Sutlej, had also been stopped.

Referring to the cleaning of river Sutlej and Beas, Badal said 28 towns had been selected under the project at a total cost of `1540 crore of which work was in full progress in 14 towns and for 13 towns tenders have already been invited.

Besides, the work at Sri Anandpur Sahib had been completed. Likewise, under the cleaning of river Ghaggar project, 16 towns had been identified, out of which work was in progress in five towns and a sewage treatment plant had been installed at SAS Nagar.

Divulging the measures taken by the State Government to tackle the problem of air pollution, Badal said out of 1,436 industrial units, 1,429 have been provided air pollution control devices in Ludhiana.

Similarly, out of 516 industrial units 506 have been provided air pollution control devices in Jalandhar and out of 438 industrial 428 have been provided air pollution control devices in Amritsar.

Air pollution control devices in remaining industries were being installed and the entire process would be complete by March, 2011 in addition the steps have been taken to reduce pollution from vehicles. The city bus service had already been started in Jalandhar which would soon be launched in Ludhiana and Mohali.