Water testing to be done near Panchkula landfill

PANCHKULA: The urban local bodies (ULB) of the Haryana government will conduct water testing and pollution check of the area located within 1 km of the dumping ground at Sector 23, Panchkula .


This was decided in a meeting held recently which was conducted by Sameer Pal Sarow, ULB director. It was attended by the residents of sectors 25 and 26.

During the meeting, the residents expressed concerns over contamination of ground water for tubewells located near the dumping ground.

Dharam Singh Hira, president of Sector 26 resident welfare association (RWA), said the residents wanted testing of water supplied to residential pipelines as they believed that the water was infested with heavy metals and was affecting the health of the public.

Residents of Sector 25 also raised the issue of air pollution in the area. They said they wanted to get the air quality checked as it might cause problems to asthma patients. Sources said a proposal was also mooted out by the ULB officials to get the testing done by the pollution board, but the residents objected to it stating that they were not well-equipped.

Considering which the officials decided that they would hire a private company for the same. The officials stated that they wanted the resident representatives to visit Faridabad and Panipat to monitor small plants set up to tackle garbage menace. Residents also demanded that they should be allowed to visit the material recovery centre which the Panchkula municipal corporation had set up at Sector 12.

ULB officials instructed that regular layering of the soil on the dumping ground and chemical spray should be done regularly for safe environment. Recently, the municipal corporation administrator-cum-commissioner Panchkula Rajesh Jopal, made a surprise visit to the solid waste dumping site in Sector 23, Panchkula.

He directed that more saplings should be planted at the site. He also found that the covering of the municipal solid waste with soil had reduced due to which foul smell had started emanating from the site. He directed the staff to cover the waste with soil on a daily basis.

He also directed to use spray culture at equal intervals to avoid spread of flies and mosquitoes.