High powered committee collects samples of canal water

Moga, June 20 (UNI) A high powered committee of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) today rushed to Faridkot to make an on-the-spot assessment of the quality of water of the Sirhind Feeder canal, the life line of parts of the Malwa belt.

The team consituted on the directions of the Chief Minister will conduct on-the-spot study of the water quality of the canal in the districts of Faridkot, Moga, Muktsar and Ferozpur. Water samples will be collected and analysed.

The canal water in these districts which contains a high quantity of industrial affluents is not fit for irrigation as well as for human consumption.

The team headed by Mr I K Dua, senior environmental engineer of the Board held meetings with Deputy Commissioner Rakhi Gupta Bhandari and officals of the public health and irrigation departments.

Due to the heavy inflow of pollutants in the canal the residents of several areas have stopped taking drinking water supplied from the Sirhind Feeder. The pollutant level in the canal has risen because the industrial units located along the Satluj river have been discharging their wastes into the river, which is a source of the Sirhind Feeder.

The high level committee left for various destinations to collect water samples from the canal as well as from rural water supply schemes.

The Punjab government has installed two treatment plants at Balloke and Bhattian villages to treat the canal water.

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