Said given the seriousness of the matter, the state government will also take up the issue with the Centre.
Chief minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced a ‘comprehensive action plan’ to check pollution in the Beas and Sutlej, besides steps to restore water quality of rivers in the state.
Responding to a call attention by Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan, the CM said given the seriousness of the matter, the state government will also take up the issue with the Centre.
Amarinder said he had already constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary, with the administrative secretaries concerned as members for regular monitoring of the measures to control pollution of the river waters. He assured the House that the government would make all-out efforts to check pollution in these water bodies.
Listing some of the steps initiated by the state to check river water pollution, he said 11 sewage treatment plants (STPs) have been installed in 19 towns, and 12 new STPs will be installed in 10 towns by December 2020. Treatment ponds will be constructed in 125 villages by June next year, and 350 cusecs of water will be released from Mukerian hydel channel into the holy Bein, he said.
He also outlined measures undertaken for cleaning the Sutlej.
Amarinder told the House that urban and rural sewage would be used for irrigation and three common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) will be commissioned by January 2020 for the dyeing industry in Ludhiana. Upgrade of existing CETPs of tanneries and leather complex in Jalandhar would be done by March 2020, he said.
‘State attracts ₹35,480 crore investment proposals’
Industries minister Sham Sunder Arora on told the House that under the present Congress government, the state has received 348 investment proposals worth ₹35,480 crore of a total of 817 MoUs worth ₹66,802 crore signed so far.
Replying to a question by Congress MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal during the Question Hour, Arora said the state notified industrial and business development policy on October 17, 2017 and as part of it agro-based units have been categorised as thrust area. Fiscal incentives like GST incentive, exemption from electricity duty, stamp duty and property tax were provided as part of it, he added.
The minister, however, could not give a proper reply when former minister and Akali MLA Bikram Majithia asked as how many units that have signed MoUs during this regime have started operations in the state or have been inaugurated.
“We won’t follow the tradition set by the previous SAD-BJP government to inaugurate new units without their actual conceptualisation,” said the minister. AAP MLA Aman Arora also claimed that the minister was making tall claims about the MoUs whereas reality is that no unit has actually been set up.
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