Efforts of the state government to clean Budha Nullah seem to be turning futile as effluents are still being discharged into the water body.

The Customs Department has written to the Ludhiana Mayor and assured him that it will appropriately dispose of 825 tonnes of garbage recovered from 40 containers at Dhandari dry port.

60 cities found to generate staggering 3,501 tonnes a day

The Integrated Processing Development Scheme, recently announced in the Union Budget for the textile sector, will enable development of new textile processing parks and also improve infrastructure, including effluent treatment facilities, in the existing textile processing centres through public private partnerships.

With an outlay of Rs. 500 crore for the XII Plan period, the scheme looks at leveraging Rs. 5,000 crore investment in the segment. The budget has proposed Rs. 50 crore allocation for 2013-2014. Details of the scheme are expected soon.

Eighty percent of sewage in India is untreated and flows directly into the nation’s rivers, polluting the main sources of drinking water, a study by an environmental watchdog showed.

More than 110 of the 138 water blocks in Punjab have shown a steep fall in the water table, ringing the alarm bells.

Accelerating work on its ambitious 3,300-km-long dedicated freight corridors project, which is being constructed on the eastern and western flanks of the country at the cost of R90,000 crore, the railways has shortlisted two consortiums led by major Japanese infrastructure firms to develop a major portion of the western freight corridor stretch.

The final contract, for the construction of a 640-km-long route from Rewari to Palanpur at the cost of R6000 crore, will be awarded to the firm selected by the end of this month.

Industrial units in Punjab continue to discharge untreated effluents in open drains and water channels even though the state government has been campaigning for a greener Punjab.

The lackadaisical approach of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) in taking stern action against the industrial units flouting the norms is one of the major reasons behind the non-compliance of the norms.

Confirming Punjab government's worst fears, a door-to-door survey of the health department — covering almost 98 per cent of the state's population — has found that the incidence of cancer is higher than national and international average.

When compared to World Health Organisartion's point of reference — 80 affected among a population of one lakh — Punjab's survey discovered that 90 in a population of one lakh were suffering from cancer.

The 266-km project is estimated to cost Rs. 20,000 crore

Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and the Centre have agreed to construct an access-controlled Delhi-Ludhiana Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,000 crore.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s proposal to revise the Delhi-Chandigarh Expressway to one connecting the national Capital with Ludhiana was ratified by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Delhi Public Works Department Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan at a meeting chaired by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways C.P. Joshi.