Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Environment
Prelims level: Sukhna Lake
Mains level: Draft notification for Sukhna Lake

Context

• The Chandigarh administration had on Monday issued a draft notification for declaring Sukhna Lake as a wetland under the Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rule, 2017.
• Suggestions and objections have been invited from residents for the same.
• Sukhna Lake was declared a wetland more than 30 years ago as well. A status report placed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently stated that the UT administrator had issued such a notification on July 6, 1988, as well.
• The new notification will include the public’s suggestions and objections as required under the 2017 rules.

When was this decision taken?

• In July this year, the Chandigarh Wetlands Authority had unanimously decided to declare the Sukhna Lake as a wetland.
• It was the second meeting of the Union Territory of Chandigarh Wetlands Authority that was chaired by Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore.
• At the meeting, officers of the Punjab and Haryana government were also asked to join UT in conserving the lake.

How will this help Sukhna?

• Declaring Sukhna a wetland will help preserve the lake and conserve its ecological and biodiversity.
• A major threat to Sukhna is the discharge of pollutants from neighbouring areas. Sukhna Wetland is spread over 565 acres.
• The catchment area of Sukhna Wetland spreading over 10,395 acres as finalised by the Survey of India includes 2,525 acres of Haryana and 684 acres of Punjab.
• With this, various activities will be prohibited/regulated/ promoted both in the wetland as well catchment areas.

What activities will be prohibited?

• Encroachment of any kind, setting up of any industry and expansion of existing industries, manufacturing or handling or storage or disposal of construction and demolition waste covered under the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016.
• The hazardous substances covered under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989, or the Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989, or the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Trans-Boundary Movement) Rules, 2008.
• This also includes electronic waste covered under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, solid waste dumping, discharge of untreated waste and effluents from industries, cities, towns, villages and other human settlements and any construction of a permanent nature within specific distance of the wetland.

Way ahead

• The administration had recently introduced a programme to include villagers of Kaimbwala under the ‘Friends of Sukhna’ — a voluntary program to keep a check on activities taking place in the area.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Which of the following best describes the term “regulatory sandbox”, which was recently seen in news?
a) An entity hosted or endorsed by the regulators, that enables temporary, limited-scale testing of a new product.
b) A security mechanism in computer security for separating running programs, usually in an effort to mitigate system failures.
c) A type of software testing environment that enables the combined execution of software or programs for efficient evaluation and monitoring.
d) It is a broad framework for cryptocurrency regulation.

Ans: A
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What activities will be prohibited around Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake?