Ropar: AAP MLA Dinesh Chadha on Tuesday alleged large-scale illegal dumping of hazardous industrial and chemical waste in the Bard Khad and Sirsa riverbeds along Punjab’s borders with Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, and sought immediate inter-state action against the manufacturing units allegedly responsible.During an inspection of sites at Bhudd Barrier, Madhanwala and Nawan Nagar, Chadha said he found large mounds of industrial sludge, chemical residues, discarded syringes and packaging material dumped in the dry riverbed and seasonal rivulet.Chadha said the dump was within Haryana’s territory but the hazardous waste appeared to have originated from factories in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi industrial cluster. He said signboards of private waste-disposal contractors found at the site supported the claim.“I called the Panchkula deputy commissioner directly from the spot, seeking urgent removal of the toxic mounds and registration of cases against the contractors and factories involved,” Chadha said. He warned that rain could wash the toxic slurry into the Sirsa and Sutlej rivers, affecting drinking water and canal irrigation supplies downstream.Officials from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and local police accompanied Chadha during the inspection. PPCB technical teams collected samples and began mapping the volume of the waste, he said.PPCB executive engineer Vipin said a comprehensive report would be prepared and sent to higher authorities, who could take up the matter with their Haryana counterparts.Ropar police station SHO inspector Pawan said the site was linked to an earlier investigation into pollution in the riverbed, but Tuesday’s inspection was not part of the police probe. “In the earlier registered case the investigation is going on and so far none of the factory owners from HP has been identified. Today MLA Ropar has made a visit on his own and it was not part of our investigation, but the spot is linked to our investigation related to pollution being discharged in the riverbed,” he said.The inspection came days after Punjab Police registered an FIR at City Ropar police station against unidentified factory owners in the Baddi-Nalagarh belt for allegedly discharging chemical sludge into the Sirsa, which drains into the Sutlej.Separately, after industrial packaging waste was found near the Ropar Headworks, the PPCB sought a joint probe involving the Central Pollution Control Board and Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.The Baddi-Nalagarh industrial corridor has also faced scrutiny before the National Green Tribunal over alleged non-compliance by common effluent treatment plants and discharge of untreated pharmaceutical and chemical effluents into the Sirsa river basin.
