Raids conducted by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on 68 electroplating industries in Jalandhar and Ludhiana have found 42 of them flouting norms that make it mandatory for industries to ensure waste is treated at the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Ludhiana. PPCB Chairman K S Pannu said the Board had been receiving information from various sources that despite the concerned industries joining the CETP, they were either discharging their industrial waste into sewers or were sending less effluents than actual generation. Pannu said four teams headed by the board’s environmental engineers raided 27 electroplating industries in Jalandhar and found 18 major violators and 4 minor ones. Similarly, he added, six teams raided 41 electroplating industries in Ludhiana and caught 24 major and 16 minor violators. As per a pollution board official, an agency brings the effluents from industries to the CETP for treatment and is paid by the respective industry for the service. The official added that a majority of violators probably wanted to cut costs and were thus flouting norms. The PPCB chief Pannu said effluents generated from these electroplating industries when dumped in the Buddha Nullah make their way to the Satluj river where they affect the river’s flora and fauna. Pannu added that the treatment plant at Ludhiana was based on zero discharge technology,designed to reduce metal content in Buddha Nullah.