Jalandhar STP hangs fire
STANDSTILL The municipal corporation is waiting for the directions from the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Board to float tenders
JALANDHAR: The up-gradation work of Phorliwal Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP), worth ₹111 crore, has come to a standstill with the state government yet to take the final call on the matter.
The municipal corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) is waiting for the directions from the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Board (PMIDB) to float tenders on the same. As per information, the upgrading of the plant will take one year to complete.
Under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut), the Union urban development ministry had sanctioned ₹111 crore to the MC in April,2017.
But the civic body here has not started the work. “The local bodies department will take a decision on the matter. We will follow accordingly,” an operation and maintenance (O&M) branch official said. During a meeting at the circuit house held in May, Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh had mooted the proposal of shifting the STP, the details of which were sent to the local bodies department.
Singh had proposed the STP to be shifted at least five metres away from its existing place, citing concerns raised by area residents due to the proximity of the plant. Superintendent engineer operation and maintenance (O&M) Lakhwinder Singh said, “The civic body sends a periodic report to PMIDC on all the works under Amrut. The report also includes the pending work details.”
The project currently treats majority of the sewerage generated by the city on daily basis. Out of the four existing STPs, Phorliwal, Basti Peer Daad, Jaitewal, and Bambianwal, only first two are operational treating 200 million litres per day (MLD) sewerage waste on the daily basis.
Pholriwal plant has three STPs, 100 MLD, 25 MLD, 25 MLD. Both the 25 MLD plant treat the waste as per latest sequential batch reactor (SBR) model in which artificial oxygen is used.
Meanwhile, the 100 MLD plant is still working on the old model of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (USAB) model in which the waste is treated without oxygen.
Almost four years ago, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had revised the norms and asked the sewerage board and municipal corporations to upgrade the STPs from USAB model to SBR that reduces the biochemical oxygen constituent in the treated water to 10 BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) from the current 30 BOD that is more environment friendly and helps the river in self-cleaning.