Minister Soni, PPCB chairman call on Seechewal

SEECHEWAL (JALANDHAR): With state government grappling with the situation caused by molasses leak in Beas, state environment minister O P Soni and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman Kahn Singh Pannu called on environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal on Wednesday.
Following the meeting, Soni said he was asked by chief minister Amarinder Singh to visit Baba Seechewal to discuss the issue of pollution in rivers and other water channels in the state and ways to tackle it.

“We are already on the job to address the issue of pollution in rivers of the state and we intend to set the system right within six months,” he said. He also held that the state government had reacted very quickly to the Beas pollution crisis and that none of those responsible for it would be spared. “The CM has asked me to take action and the guilty would not be spared,” he said.

Meanwhile, Seechewal, who is also a member of the PPCB, told Soni that while the recent incident brought river Beas into focus, river Satluj was in state of perpetual disaster. He said industrial effluents were being thrown into the river and the Ludhiana municipal corporation was also responsible for turning the river into a sewer drain.

Highly-polluted water was being thrown in Kala Sanghia drain and Chitti Bein which further flow in river Satluj, added the environmentalist. He also told the minister that several sewage treatment plants (STPs) were not functioning properly despite huge money being spent on these.

Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also called on Seechewal on late Tuesday evening and focused on the issue of recent disaster in Beas. He alleged that the state government was trying to save the sugar mill owners as they were close to the CM.