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Govt. dumps 5500 million tonnes of solid waste per day

Staff Correspondent

Chief Minister advocates judicious use of pesticide by farmers

CHANDIGARH: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has emphasised the need for a multi-pronged strategy to combat the menace arising out of mismanagement of solid waste, water pollution, excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides, mishandling of hazardous wastes and burning of crop residue by farmers in the fields. Addressing the first meeting of the Punjab State Environment Council earlier this week, the Chief Minister expressed deep concern over 5500 million tonne per day (MTPD) of solid waste being dumped indiscriminately. He asked the Local Government Department to identify adequate landfill sites by all the urban local bodies across the State besides setting up of waste processing facilities.

The meeting deliberated on the fact that 86 per cent of the total organic pollution load in the Sutlej river came from local bodies and the remaining 14 per cent from industries, with the major polluting sources being the Budha Nallah and East Behin rivulets in Ludhiana and Kapurthala districts respectively. Of 137 local bodies, only seven had sewerage treatment plants (STPs) while six, including three in Ludhiana and one each in Jalandhar, Phagwara and Mohali, were under different stages of installation. The authorities were still mulling over proposals to set up another 11 at Machhiwara, Nawanshahar, Banga, Hoshiarpur, Rayya, Patti, Dasuya, Tanda, Bhulath, Mukerian and Pathankot towns.

Capt. Singh was informed of non-availability of sufficient funds and technical manpower created by hindrance in implementation of management of municipal solid waste which was mandatory under the Environment Protection Act. For this, the Chief Minister suggested that the five municipal corporations of the State be advised to enter into public-private partnership. He also advocated setting up of units for co-generation of power from the solid waste at Amritsar and Jalandhar.

Commenting on the highest pesticide consumption of 922 grams per hectare in the State against the national average of 570, Capt. Singh said that a study conducted by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) here confirmed injudicious use of pesticides as one of the major causes for the widespread prevalence of cancer cases in Giana and Jajjal villages of Talwandi Sabo.

He asked Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the State Department of Agriculture to launch a joint awareness campaign to educate farmers about the safe and optimum use of pesticides. He also underscored the need for integrated use of organic sources like farmyard manure, green manure, press mud and poultry manure along with the inorganic fertilizers.

The Chief Minister directed the Local Government Department and the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to strictly enforce management of water pollution by the municipal authorities under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. He also asked the State health authorities to gear up their machinery to combat any sort of eventuality arising out of the spread of vast number of the diseases like tetanus, cholera, diarrhoea, plague and tuberculosis due to unsanitary conditions as a result of solid waste mismanagement.

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