Haryana: 105 illegal effluent discharge points identified in Panipat

The Haryana government on Thursday said that as many as 105 discharge points of untreated effluent flowing into drain number two in Panipat district have been identified. The government said that 48 discharge points out of total 105 have been tapped by Panipat municipal corporation, and that action against defaulters of remaining 57 discharge points is in process with Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) for imposing environmental compensation.

It is pertinent to mention here that Panipat is a textile hub and drain number 1 meets drain number 2, which leads to Yamuna River.

Meanwhile, the state government stated that in the last three years, 27 violating units were closed/sealed, and over ₹9 crore was imposed as environmental compensation on six units. Also, prosecution action was initiated against nine violators.

“During random inspection carried out recently, seven more units were also found discharging untreated effluent into drain number one and action against these units is in process,” the government said.

The information was tabled in the assembly in response to a question by Samalkha MLA Manmohan Bhadana, who sought response from the government on steps being taken to check the chemical mixed effluents of dying units, factories and industries being released into drain number 2 of Panipat which passes through Samalkha, contaminating the groundwater and environment of villages.

The government informed the assembly that Panipat district has a total 444 water polluting industrial units and that all of them have their own Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and that two Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) are also operational in the district for the treatment of industrial effluent.

The government stated that for the treatment of domestic effluent, 10 sewerage treatment plants (STPs) are operational in the district.

“There is a strong monitoring mechanism to ensure the compliance of environmental norms related to ETPs, STPs and CETPs for the treatment and disposal of treated effluent,” the government said.

As per the reply, regular monitoring is conducted jointly or individually by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), River Yamuna Monitoring Committee (RYMC), Special Environmental Surveillance Task Force (SESTF), and teams constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

As far as contamination of ground water near the drain is concerned, the government informed that HSPCB is monitoring it twice a year on a regular basis. As per analysis reports of the water collected from the tubewells located near drain number 1 and 2, various parameters were found within permissible limits during last three years, the reply said.

State to remove illegal encroachments

The Haryana government has revealed that around 7 acres of land under the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in Sector-2, Trikha Colony, Ballabhgarh, and Sector-4R, 62, 64, and 65 in Faridabad is under illegal possession. Since 2021, HSVP has conducted 13 encroachment removal drives to clear the land. The remaining encroachments, excluding those involved in litigation, will be removed within two months, the government said. This response was given to BJP MLA Mool Chand Sharma, who inquired about the government’s actions to reclaim the land from illegal possession.