The Dera Bassi municipal council had leased out four acres of land for the project, which was to be executed by Mohali Green Environment Private Limited, an association of around 10 pharmaceutical companies
Residents of 12 villages, including Bhankharpur, Issapur, Pragpur, Bakerpur, Ibrahampur, Dhanounani and Bhora had moved the Punjab and Haryana High court (pictured here) alleging that chemically polluted water was being discharged in the Dera Bassi drain. (HT Photo)
It has been more than four years since the foundation stone of the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) was laid at Saidpura village for scientific disposal of effluents from pharmaceutical units in the Dera Bassi area, but the project has failed to take off.
Residents of 12 villages, including Bhankharpur, Issapur, Pragpur, Bakerpur, Ibrahampur, Dhanounani and Bhora had moved the Punjab and Haryana High court alleging that chemically polluted water was being discharged in the Dera Bassi drain. They blamed the state government for not taking action against the polluting units.
The petitioners alleged that sewage discharge from factories was flowing into drains nearby and polluting the groundwater and, therefore, the tubewell supply.
The Dera Bassi municipal council had leased out four acres of land for the project, which was to be executed by Mohali Green Environment Private Limited, an association of around 10 pharmaceutical companies.
The firm had assured that the completion deadline would be March 2018, and in 2019 finalised local company Bantech Water Private Limited (formerly Bansal Envirotech) for engineering work. But even though Bantech readied the requisite documents for the project, it did not get the all-clear from the association.
“We are pressuring the association to come up with a plant soon. It claims to be holding talks with two companies and hopefully they will be finalising things in the next two weeks,” said Satwinder Singh Marwaha, chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) .
Nav Rattan Munjal, director of Mohali Green Environment Private Limited said they would choose a company in a week’s time and start work on the project.
Commenting on the matter, Siddharth Bansal, CEO of Bantech, said, “We received a letter of award from the association, finalising us as an implementing agency for the said project. We are in the process of finalising certain terms and conditions and will be in the implementation stage very soon.”
Plans for the project were drawn out in 2014 and in April 2016, Manpreet Singh, the then chairman of PPCB, laid the foundation stone of the Rs80 crore plant at Saidpura that would cater to other villages close by.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/4-years-on-project-to-treat-effluents-in-dera-bassi-yet-to-take-off-101611512948696.html