Chandigarh: Punjab Police have registered the state’s first First Information Report concerning the pollution of the Sutlej River in Ropar, naming industrial units operating in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. The legal action follows a formal complaint lodged by Ropar Member of Legislative Assembly Dinesh Chadha after heavy rainfall washed massive quantities of untreated factory waste and toxic effluents into the river system.
The influx of industrial contaminants has raised severe environmental concerns as the contaminated river water actively feeds into crucial irrigation networks, including the Sirhind and Bist Doab canals. Local pedestrians first detected large accumulations of floating industrial debris on Sunday morning and alerted the lawmaker, who conducted an on-site inspection before submitting a detailed statement to law enforcement authorities to initiate statutory action against the polluting units.
Chadha stated that untreated factory runoff from Himachal Pradesh continues to severely compromise downstream water quality in Punjab, questioning the vigilance of state regulatory bodies in preventing interstate ecological degradation. He also urged the National Green Tribunal to enforce stricter ground-level oversight, emphasizing that regulatory compliance and judicial directives must produce measurable environmental protection rather than existing merely on paper.
