In collaboration with the Gurunanak Dev University, the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-I) has launched a project to survey the Hudiara Drain on the Indian side to ascertain the pollution level.
Dr Anjana Pant of the WWF-I stated this during a press conference here on Tuesday. Dr Anish Dua of Gurunanak Dev University, Hammad Naqi of WWF-Pakistan and the member of the Forum of Environment Journalists, Punjab Chapter, were also present on the occasion. The two-member Indian delegation arrived in Pakistan to discuss the project with the WWF-Pakistan.
Dr Anjana said that the project titled "Addressing environmental and pollution concerns across international waters through strategic partnership" aims to reduce the pollution load of Hudiara Drain through active stakeholders' participation and better management practice.
She said that the findings of the survey would be announced after two years and on the finding a strategy would be drawn out to tackle the issue, in partnership with the WWF-Pakistan, which had already conducted a survey of the Hudiara Drain on the Pakistani side.
Dr Anish said that the objective of the project was to conduct an assessment of the water quality of Hudiara Drain, its impact on livestock, health and agriculture and to raise awareness among communities, governments and other affected stakeholders on the importance of managing the water quality of the drain.
"One of the project's aim was a long-term funding for collaborative project between both the countries to manage Hudiara Drain for the benefit of local communities and environmental conservation," he added.
On the pollution of River Ravi, he said that the river is pollution-free on the Indian side, since there was no industrial and municipal activities on its embankments.
While endorsing the statement of Dr Anish, Hammad Naqi said that the survey of the river showed that when River Ravi enters into Pakistan, the level of pollution was almost non-existence. Since the river travels through a huge population of Lahore, industrial and municipal waste ends up in the river in the absence of proper waste management.
Earlier, Hammad Naqi gave a detailed presentation on Hudiara Drain and the findings of its survey conducted in the recent past.