In a bid to prevent water wastage, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday directed state administration to launch campaigns for ensuring its conservation by installing rain water harvesting systems in all new residential houses constructed in the state. No new electricity and water supply connections for houses of 250 square yards and above would be released without the construction of a standard and approved rain water harvesting system, directed Badal. He has asked the officers to work out a plan to build-up such rain water harvesting system for all the state government institutional buildings. Badal also reviewed a high-level committee report prepared by Punjab Pollution Control Board as part of a river cleaning project in the state. The committee was constituted by the Chief Minister to identify all sources which are polluting rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar in the state. Badal approved up-gradation of all three existing Sewage Treatment Plants at Jamalpur of 48 MLD capacity, Bhattian of 161 MLD and Balloke STP of 257 MLD capacity by introducing modern technology. Chief Minister also asked the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board managing director to prepare a comprehensive plan to upgrade all existing STPs in the state besides, expediting ongoing construction work of various STPs in the areas of Nangal, Ropar, Chamkour Sahib, SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur Jalandhar and Phagwara. Referring to the dairies polluting Buddha Nallah in Ludhiana, Badal advised the authorities to take strict action against the owners of the dairy farms across the banks, who discharge the dairy waste into the Nallah. To carry out beautification of Buddha Nallah banks, the Chief Minister approved to work out a plan for allotting land or houses to already identified slum dwellers settled there. He also directed the officers to explore possibilities of capacity enhancement of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) in Ludhiana, besides chalking modalities to introduce super suction machines for cleaning sewerages in various cities. Badal directed Science and Technology secretary to closely monitor entire river cleaning programme on regular basis and also to hold meetings with Chandigarh administration to monitor the factors polluting Sukhna Lake. In another decision, Badal asked Ludhiana district administration to initiate a process to include all villages around the city in Municipal Corporation limits to ensure the provision of all types of civic amenities in the suburbs of the city.