Taking stringent measures to curb pollution in the Yamuna, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has appointed senior nodal officers and constituted special teams to conduct surprise inspections in 10 districts through which the river flows in the state.
The Yamuna traverses nearly 320 km in Haryana. It enters the state through Yamunanagar with relatively clean water and passes through Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat before entering Delhi. The river re-enters Haryana in Faridabad district, flows through Palwal and exits into Uttar Pradesh near Kosi in Mathura district.
As part of its anti-pollution exercise, the HSPCB carried out a detailed survey of 11 major drains discharging into the Yamuna. These include Dhanaura drain in Yamunanagar, Drain No. 2 in Panipat, Drain No. 6 in Sonepat, Mungeshpur drain, KCB drain and Drain No. 8 in Bahadurgarh, Leg-1, Leg-2 and Leg-3 drains in Gurugram, Budhiya Nala in Faridabad, and Gaunchi drain in Ballabgarh/Palwal.
During the survey conducted last year, the board identified locations where untreated sewage, solid waste, industrial effluents and hazardous waste were being discharged into these drains without proper treatment through Sewage Treatment Plants and Common Effluent Treatment Plants.
Based on the findings, the pollution board prepared a Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) aimed at making the river pollution-free.
In the latest step under the action plan, the HSPCB has appointed chief environment engineers (CEEs) and senior environment engineers (SEEs) as nodal officers in the districts connected to the identified drains.
Bhupender Rinwa, CEE, has been appointed nodal officer for Gurugram; Balraj Ahlawat, CEE, for Rohtak and Jhajjar; Satinder Pal, SEE, for Faridabad and Palwal; Jatinder Pal, SEE, for Karnal; Sanjeev Kumar, SEE, for Sonepat; Naveen Gulia, SEE, for Yamunanagar; Nirmal Kumar, SEE, for Panipat; and Kuldeep Singh, SEE, for Nuh district.
Yogesh Kumar, Member Secretary, HSPCB, said, “All the chief engineers and senior engineers have been appointed as nodal officers for all the districts from where the Yamuna flows. All nodal officers will periodically review the monitoring, implementation and progress of the YAP, in coordination with the regional officers concerned.”
He added that the nodal officers would also hold meetings with industrial associations to promote environmental awareness and ensure compliance with pollution norms.
“These nodal officers would work proactively to identify and address potential environmental threats within their respective jurisdictions,” Kumar said, adding that the teams would identify industries causing significant pollution, particularly water pollution.
Apart from the nodal officers, special headquarters teams comprising SDOs and Scientist-B officials will conduct surprise raids in the identified districts. Separate joint teams of the Public Health Engineering Department and pollution board officials will also carry out inspections in all 10 districts along the Yamuna belt.
“The main motive of all these efforts is to make the Yamuna pollution-free, which is crossing from Haryana’’s districts, and no one would be spared for violating the pollution norms,” the Member Secretary asserted.
