Haryana plans reduce Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand of Ghaggar: CM Manohar Lal Khattar

CHANDIGARH: Haryana government is planning to bring down the Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) parameter of Ghaggar river to improve the quality of water, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today.

This parameter will be brought down to 10 million litres per day (MLD), he said.

Out of 20 towns located along the river in Haryana, sewerage treatment plants (STPs) have become functional in 12 towns, whereas work on eight STPs has been initiated.

Haryana will continue to follow the "SBR" technology in new STPs for big towns which automatically brings down the BOD level to 10 MLD in the long run, Khattar said in a meeting with his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal, according to an official release.

BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material.

The meeting held here was convened for suggesting ways to purify Ghaggar river which is being polluted due to discharge of untreated or partially treated industrial and domestic effluent from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, it said.

Expressing concerns, Khattar said the issue assumes significance for both states as according to historians, in the ancient times, Ghaggar river was part of mythical river Saraswati.

He suggested that both states should jointly work for the purification of the river so as to further improve the quality of water and also to make it usable for irrigation.

He also suggested that a meeting with Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and officers of Union Territory Chandigarh should be convened to check chemical affluent flown in the river from their side.

Khattar also urged his Punjab counterpart to join his endeavour to take up all other issues pertaining to both states on a priority basis.

Badal said the two states are like brothers and assured Haryana CM that he was ready to discuss the issues concerning them, according to the release.

He assured Khattar that Punjab would work together with Haryana for the purification of Ghaggar river and efforts would be made to bring down the BOD parameter of the river to 10 MLD in Punjab.

Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu, Haryana Chief Secretary P K Gupta, Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, and senior officers of Haryana and Punjab administration were present in the meeting.