Punjab to check potable water quality

Chandigarh, July 1 (IANS) Amid allegations of potable water contamination, the Punjab government has decided to get a survey conducted to check the quality of water being supplied to residents, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced Sunday.

Addressing a gathering after launching a "Greening Punjab" campaign at Fazilka town, 300 km from here, Badal said that under this survey water being supplied in households, whether through tubewells or canal-based schemes, would be tested for quality.

Badal ordered that the survey be completed within three months.

He said the "Greening Punjab" campaign was aimed at improving the green cover in the state and decreasing air and water pollution.

Punjab has only seven percent area under forests as against the mandatory national norm of 33 percent forest cover in states.

Under the campaign, over 40 crore saplings would be planted in all districts of Punjab in the next eight years.