Chandigarh, July 10 (IANS) The Punjab government has sought technical help from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to tackle the growing problem of uranium in ground water, particularly in the southwest region of the agricultural state.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said Tuesday that the Punjab government would tackle the problem of uranium in ground water on top priority.
Addressing a gathering at Sangrur town, 120 km from here, he said that Punjab, which had already fought a battle against insurgency and suffered because of India-Pakistan wars, would now launch a war against uranium pollution in water which was only specific to Punjab.
A recent report had pointed out to the presence of uranium in ground water in Punjab. Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had also confirmed the same.
Scores of people in the districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and others have died or are suffering from cancer and other diseases owing to uranium contamination.
Badal said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had already requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to allocate a special budget to tackle the problem of uranium as it has been done in the case of arsenic and fluoride contamination in other states.
He said the BARC team was trying to locate the source of uranium contamination and the Punjab government was taking all possible measures to provide reverse osmosis (RO) system in the affected areas.
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