‘Ghaziabad residents forced to drink hazardous water’

GHAZIABAD - The residents of Ghaziabad say they have been forced to drink polluted water due to the discharge of effluents by industrial units and that the problem has been compounded with the civic body shutting down three tubewells.

“We have brought this problem to the government’s notice on several occasions but due to the pollution control board’s apathy, no action has been taken against the industrial units which are polluting underground water by dumping their effluents in it,” Tejendra Pal Singh Tyagi, president of the RWA Federation of Ghaziabad, said.

After finding the chromium percentage at 0.5 percent, at least 10 times more than permissible limit, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation shut down its tubewell situated in Lohia Nagar.

Later, the tubewell in Sanjay Gita Park was also closed due to the high amount of chromium levels in the water. After finding such hazardous chemicals in water, the then district magistrate had formed a committee to find the polluting units. The committee recommended increasing water harvesting units in the area.

Finally, the local industrial units dug another tubewell in Vinoba Bhave park and handed it to the corporation Aug 19, 2006. But the latest test conducted by the municipal corporation at the National Test House found an increase in the chromium percentage in the

tubewell and it too had to be shut down.

Municipal Commissioner Basant Lal said: “We sent the samples of the water drained from the tubewell of Vinoba Bhave park to the regional test house for chemical examination. We took this step after a number of complaints from the residents.”

“The residents are complaining about an increase in chromium percentage but we have to ascertain the facts through an accredited test laboratory. Till then, the tubewell has been shut down,” he added.