Khattar praises environmentalist Seechewal for cleanliness campaign

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday heaped praise on noted environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal for leading a campaign to clean holy Kali Bein, an important rivulet in Punjab. Talking to reporters after visiting ‘Dera Seechewal’ in Seechewal, near here, he appreciated the sewerage system in the village and the use of treated-water for irrigation purposes.

Khattar said the Seechewal model “is an ideal model” for villages and needed to be popularised. “The government would adopt the model of waste water treatment plant of Seechewal for the revival of Saraswati river in Haryana,” he said. On being asked about the illegal practice of burning of paddy straw by some farmers, Khattar said, “It is wrong to do so as it leads to pollution”.

He said that the government would soon introduce a project “under which power would be generated through paddy straw”.

Khattar said the claim of Haryana and Punjab on Chandigarh is a long-pending issue which can be settled only on the basis of “mutual understanding between the two states”. Replying to a question on the ‘moisture cut’ being charged from the paddy growers, Khattar said that no money was being charged from those farmers whose crops had moisture content of up of to 17 per cent.