Fig no 13: .111 UBDC (1) at Tarawala Pul

present are used for discharging untreated domestic and industrial effluents.

Within Amritsar, Ganda Nallah, originating from

N
Fig no.14 Untreated industrial effluents of Shankar Textile Mill drained out into Nallah
orth Eastern part and flows in two directions, one towards North West covering villages of Nag Khurd, Nag (New Abadi), Bal Kalan, Pandori Waraich, Naushehra, Nangli, Gumtala, Kherabad, Kala Ghanupur, Wadala Bhitewadh, etc. The other flows towards the South of the city from North East. Both of these ultimately drain out in the Hudiara Drain flowing from the north to west of the Amritsar district.

3.6.2.4 Existing Status

G

Shankar Textile Mill, Kwality Pharmaceutical Pvt.

Ltd, etc., which are existing along the Gandha Nallah and discharging their untreated industrial effluents into the nallah.

Due to discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluents, the pollutants have leached to the ground water table and have deteriorated the quality of ground water in the villages situated along the nallah. The colour of water found is deep yellow, odour is strong and suspended particles can be visualized by naked eyes, rendering it unfit for potable use.

O
Fig no.16 Groundwater Sample having objectionable colour, odour taste & suspended solids
n the primary survey, the residents of the colonies or villages situated along the nallah have claimed to be suffering from various diseases such as gastroenteritis, jaundice,

diarrohea/ dysentery due to

consumption of contaminated water and malaria due to breeding of mosquitoes around the Gandha Nallah.
3.6.2.5 Tungdhab Drain

The Tungdhab Drain flowing in the northern side of Amritsar city along the Northern Byepass is another important drain originating from north east of the city and finally merging into Hudiara Drain flowing in the west of Amritsar. Along its course, it covers many areas/village abadis such as Pandori, Verka, Othian, Khan Kot, Kot Mit Singh, Sultanwind etc.

Tungdhab Drain is also carrying untreated industrial and sewage effluents and other waste materials, dense weeds, shrubs, silts & mud and is extremely polluted. The flow of drain is moderately high in its downstream side and along its course, spread strong odour and nuisance towards concerned residential areas.

A high power pumping station have been installed near Verka Chowk to drain out the untreated industrial and sewage effluents from upstream side of drain to the adjoining nallah (drain) in the downstream side. This pumping station is a collection point of untreated industrial and sewage effluents of the entire industrial area (Focal Point) and after their collection into the sump simultaneously pump out into adjoining drain, which finally joins to Ganda Nallah towards downstream side. The physio-chemical characteristics of the effluents pumped out into the drain are objectionable in various aspects such as colour, odour, suspended solids, D.O., B.O.D., C.O.D. and microbial contamination. As per visual observations, colour of the water is brick red having strong odour with high turbidity level which is objectionable as per prescribed standards by CPCB.



Fig no.17 Untreated industrial effluents pumped out near Verka Chowk create unbearable odour


3.6.2.7 Hudiara Drain

The Hudiara Drain entering into the Amritsar from North Eastern side crosses a number of villages along its course in i.e. Nangal Pannuwan, Sohian Kalan, Birbalpura, Loharka Kalan, Miran Kot Kalan, Sehchandar, Rudala, Kotla Dal Singh, Dhaul Khurd, Kaler, Khiala Khurd, Khiala Kalan, Boparai Khurd, Kaulowal, Nurpur, Chhiddan, Lohorimal, Gharinda, Achint Kot, Hoshiar Nagar, Mahawa, etc. It leaves the Amritsar from the south western side and enters into Tarn Taran district.

The Hudiara Drain, which at once was fresh water drain used for irrigation purpose, is now carrying disposed untreated industrial and sewage effluents of the Amritsar. At many places, the water from the drain is used for irrigating the fields, which is harmful for consumption.

Kasur Nallah and Patti Drain are the other two drains flowing through the Amritsar. Both these drains enter Amritsar from North East direction and leaves region from south side to enter into the Tarn Taran district.

B
Fig no.20 Kasur Nallah flowing near village Manawala shows excessive eutrophication

oth the drains carry untreated sewage and domestic effluents and refuses containing solid waste, mud, silts and other waste materials from the number of villages from which it passes before it enters Tarn Taran district in the south.


Fig no.19 Upstream of Patti Drain near Malhian village (Jandiala) showing excessive algae growth

The nallah also carries storm water during rainy season and also becomes

eutrophic containing higher concentration of nutrients like NPK. High level of eutrophication of nallah/drain favours the excessive breeding of mosquitoes, which causes malaria and other water borne diseases.




3.6.3 Ground Water Pollution

T
Fig no. 21 Gandha Nallah carrying untreated sewage, MSW, biomedical waste, etc.

i) Excessive pumping has lead to contamination of ground water. Persons residing in Abadies in close proximity to Ganda Nallah, Tungdhab and Hudiara Drains and other adjoining villages have been found to be exposed to water borne diseases due to polluted ground water.

ii) Considerable level of ground water pollution has been found to exist up to a depth of 100 ft. along the 1000 meters belt on either side of Ganda Nallah, Tungdhab and Hudiara Drains. The physico-chemical characteristic of water has been found to be unsuitable for supporting aquatic life.

3. 
   Hand pumps and shallow tube wells drawing water from first aquifers are found susceptible to ground water pollution in areas close to industrial units and Ganda Nallah, Tungdhab and Hudiara Drains.
   

v) The use of polluted ground water for agricultural purposes has also led to the degradation of the soil and presence of heavy metals into soil and vegetable crops grown in the area.

The study of ground water characteristics in the city has been done by Regional Office (R. O.), PPCB Amritsar on 31.5.2005 at five different sampling stations in the city i.e., H. P. (handpump) outside Dhabha of Sh. Ramesh Chand, Fatehgarh Churian Road, H. P. near Scooter Stand of Sh. Darbar Sahib, H. P. near Sangam Dhabha, Ajnala Road, H. P. near Sg. Babu Ram Tea Stall opposite B. chemical and H. P. near Sacred Heart Day Boarding School.

The physico-chemical characteristics of ground water of all five different sampling stations within the city areas were under permissible limit prescribed by IS 10500, 1991 (clause 3.1) except total hardness of water of H. P. near Sacred Heart School, where it is of the order of 640 mg/l and exceeds the standard of below 600 mg/l prescribed by IS 10500, 1991 (clause 3.1). The colour of water at H. P. outside Dhabha of Sh. Ramesh Chand and H.P. near Sg. Babu Ram Tea Stall is light yellow, which should be clear. The details are summarized in the table no.37.

*Handpump

Ground water is the major source of water supply in the Amritsar region apart from the few surface water sources. Increased dependency on the ground water due to rapid urbanization, for industrial needs and agricultural practices has rendered its exploitation as inevitable in Amritsar. Accordingly, there is urgent need for conserving and recharging the ground water table by using techniques such as Rain water Harvesting. At present, the use of this technology is not popular among the residents due to lack of awareness. On discussion with officials of the authority such as Improvement Trust, it has been quoted that rain water harvesting has been implemented only in few government buildings and still not made mandatory as part of Building Bye Laws and Development Control Regulations. This is necessary for effective implementation of the technique that can help in longer run in recharging the ground water. Proper guidance and financial assistance may be provided to the citizens in this regard.

3.6.5 Noise Pollution

I
Fig no.22 High Traffic Volume and glaring horns by auto rickshaws cause Noise Pollution

impairment, particularly to those

people who remain exposed to such noise level for longer duration of day. The street venders and shopkeepers doing business along both sides of road have been found to be most vulnerable to this hazard.

Ambient Noise level in Various Zones (2006)

The study of ambient noise levels in industrial and commercial zones of Amritsar city have been done by Punjab Pollution Control Board, Amritsar during the year 2006. The findings of the study states that the noise levels in all the zones, residential, commercial and industrial, were greater than the standards prescribed by the CPCB, New Delhi. The details of analyzed noise level data are summarized in table no.38.

At present, there is only one slaughterhouse operational in the city located at Gumanpura. The existing slaughterhouse is observed to be using old equipment and outdated technology. As many activities causing environmental pollution are carried out in the slaughterhouse, they need to be equipped with latest equipments and modern technology so that meat supplied to the city is healthier and is as per the requirement “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Rules 2001”. As Amritsar district is observed to rank 1^st in number of animals slaughtered, therefore it requires establishment of institutions such as Carcass Utilization Centre and Leather Research Institute to utilize the left over from the animal bodies for various other uses. Further, seeing the high number of animals slaughtered in the city, an incineration plant is also required for disposal of carcass of animals and birds due to infectious diseases like rabies and flu as per “Animal Birth Control Rules-2000”.

Looking at the growth of the occupied residential houses in the Amritsar city, it has been observed that the number of occupied houses have grown by 13.74% in the decade from 1981-1991 with highest growth observed in the decade from 1991-2001 which is of the order of 92.53%. The high growth rate of residential houses can be attributed to the rural migration to the city of Amritsar for better educational and other facilities and better quality of life, being the metropolitan city and district headquarters.

Further to this, housing pattern in Amritsar city has been studied in terms of density pattern, plotted or flatted development and pattern of use of existing housing stock. The pattern of housing within the different parts of the city has been studied based on the visual survey of the city.

As per census 2001, 86.5% of the total households live in permanent and 11.3% in semi permanent structures. Total 2.14% live in temporary structures out of which only 0.35% are non-serviceable structures.

After the visual observation of Housing

condition in the city, it has been observed the housing existing in the walled city area of Amritsar is in dilapidated or poor condition characterized by old age buildings with an average building height of G+3, 100% ground coverage with no setbacks and narrow access roads with poor mass space relationship. These areas have high intensity of development. In case of urban settlements within Amritsar, Rayya has maximum good condition housing stock where in all the components i.e. roof, floor and walls are made up of pucca material which is followed by Jandiala, Majitha and Rajasansi.


Fig No.23 Poor Housing Condition, Poor Mass Space Relationship, Mesh of Wire and High Intensity of development in walled city Amritsar

O

housing condition. The houses have 60 % -80 % ground coverage depending on the plot size with mainly front and side setbacks and an average building height is G+1. The Peri-urban area that is area outside the northern bye pass is characterized with low-density development where in new approved housing colonies are coming. Therefore, the increasing concentration of planned housing efforts in the north of the city has been observed which has further aggravated the difference in quality of life between the north of the city south half of the city.

8. 
   Urban Poor And Slums
   

Urban poverty has emerged as one of the major challenges faced by policy planners and urban planners in promoting the rational development of urban areas. Poverty refers to not only deprivation of vital goods but also includes services determining the quality of life. In fact, poverty amid plenty is the world’s greatest challenge.

1. 
   Demographic Profile
   

At present, 64 slums exist in the city that has been notified by the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar under the Punjab Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1961 covering a total area of 5.8 sq.kms constituting 4.26% of the area of the city (as per the national urban information scheme for indicators produced by Municipal Corporation, Amritsar). Largest number of slums was notified in 1986/87 i.e 32 (24 to 54) localities were declared as slums.

Looking at the spatial distribution of slums, majority of slums are located in the southern part of city in close vicinity of walled city, Amritsar. Concentration of slums on the southern part was largely on account of haphazard and unplanned development in the area besides absence of any major development scheme taken up by the Improvement Trust and Municipal Corporation. On the other hand Northern side of city is better placed due to lesser number of slums. This is due to the fact that majority of development schemes and better quality of development has taken place in this areas. Accordingly, it is appropriate to rationalize the development of the Southern part of the city outside walled area and particularly along the Tarn Taran railway line in order to minimize the growth of slums.
Housing in Slums

Based on the visual survey of slums in Amritsar, it has been observed that housing condition in these areas is poor. They are characterized as one-room tenements housing 6-7 people on an average and are made up of semi permanent materials because of the cost factor as they do not have fixed income and mainly work on daily wages.

Further, in terms of sewerage, 68.75% population has access to this facility whereas rests of the 31.25% are defecating in available open areas. In the absence of regular electric connections, majority of population tap the electricity illegally through kundi connections causing enormous loss to the state. Moreover, in many of the slums areas such as Bangla Basti, Indira Colony, the high tension lines and towers are existing in between the settlements having road underneath and houses by its side which is a threat to human habitation.

8. 
   
   Fig no.27: Infrastructure situation in slum areas of Amritsar
   
   
9. 
   Industrial Growth
   

Fig no.28 Industries at the Focal Point, Mehta Road
mritsar before partition was re-knowned in terms of industries

2007. In existing status, it has been observed that 69% of the district’s small-scale industries are located within the Amritsar city employing approximately 71% of the workers engaged in SSI units. Nearly 61.5% of the medium and large- scale units are located within the city which includes Khanna Paper Mill on Fatehgarh Churian Road, Verka Milk Plant, Northern Railway Mechanical Workshop, O.C.M Mill on Attari Road, Gopi Fabrics Pvt.Ltd etc.

Industrial employment from small scale/ medium/ large-scale industries in the Amritsar city has been analysed from 2003 to 2007 in comparison to the Amritsar District, which is shown in the table below:

The above table shows that the Amritsar city has the highest no. of small scale units (17,985 units) as compared to medium and large scale units which are only 8 in no. and also provides highest employment (81,772), the share of employment in city comes to 70.84% of the district.

All the urban and rural settlements falling in the Amritsar are dependent on the ground water as the source for meeting their daily needs of water supply. The system of water supply in Amritsar and settlements is entirely based on ground water, which is extracted through tube wells and supplied to the residents through a system of OHRs. Initially, water supply in the walled city was based on a network of 40 khuhs (wells) located outside the city through which water was extracted and supplied through a well designed and properly laid down network. Over a period of time, numbers of tube wells have been installed to extract ground water and meet the increased needs of its residents. This has resulted to rapidly falling water table in the range of 180 to 460 feet. With the fast depletion of ground water, shallow tube wells used for water extraction have to be abandoned.

In order to improve the status of ground water, it is important to consider other options of water supply, including canal water and rejuvenation of 40 wells area that was earlier used for city’s supply. In addition, the option of rainwater harvesting, recycling of the waste water, minimizing the wastage in the water supply system and creating awareness among community for water conservation needs to be explored to minimize the pressure on ground water and recharge the ground water. At present, rainwater harvesting is practiced neither at city level nor at individual house level as there are no guidelines for making this as mandatory provision. So a minimum size of plot should be fixed for water harvesting and it should be included in the building byelaws too.

Looking at the existing status of water supply within the corporation area, it has been observed that out of the 142.37 sq. kms, which falls under the jurisdiction of local body, only 80% of the area is presently covered by water supply (Refer map 10). In terms of population coverage, the network is serving 80% of total city population.