What Sewage Complaints Reveal About the Next Phase of Urban Growth **लेख का शीर्षक (संदर्भ के लिए):** सीवेज की शिकायतें शहरी विकास के अगले चरण के बारे में क्या बताती हैं **इसका पूरा अनुवाद करें:** सीवेज की शिकायतें शहरी विकास के अगले चरण के बारे में क्या बताती हैं ## ਸੀਵਰੇਜ ਦੀਆਂ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਇਤਾਂ ਸ਼ਹਿਰੀ ਵਿਕਾਸ ਦੇ ਅਗਲੇ ਪੜਾਅ ਬਾਰੇ ਕੀ ਦੱਸਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ ਸੀਵਰੇਜ ਦੀਆਂ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਇਤਾਂ ਸ਼ਹਿਰੀ ਵਿਕਾਸ ਦੇ ਅਗਲੇ ਪੜਾਅ ਬਾਰੇ ਕੀ ਦੱਸਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ

What the Bhagomajra Panchayat Is Alleging

Members of the Bhagomajra village panchayat have demanded a high-level inquiry against real estate firms operating in the area along national highways and on the village periphery. The specific allegation is not the more familiar complaint about sewage running into open drains or seasonal rivulets. It is something more hidden and more serious.

The panchayat members say developers are drilling borewells at project sites and using them to discharge sewage directly into the ground, bypassing the Sewage Treatment Plants they are required to install under government guidelines. The practice is invisible from the surface. It leaves no open pool of dirty water, no foul smell in any one visible place, no obvious evidence for a passing inspector. The contamination goes underground.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board was named in the complaint. Panchayat members said the PPCB had been repeatedly informed and had done nothing. They called it a mute spectator to an ongoing violation.

Why the Borewell Technique Is Different

Mohali's sewage disposal problem from housing projects in growth corridors is documented. Two years ago, Tribune reported that residents of Rani Majra, Togan, and Palheri villages were dealing with untreated sewage from nearby housing societies being discharged directly into seasonal rivulets and farmland, with foul smell, agricultural contamination, and health concerns. The PPCB issued a show-cause notice to JTPL Townships in Sector 115 for non-functional sewage disposal and untreated water disposed into green areas. Earlier this year, Mohali's then-Mayor wrote to Punjab's Governor about sewage from Chandigarh flowing into the N-Choe seasonal drain through Mohali city.

All of those cases involved sewage appearing somewhere visible. The Bhagomajra complaint is about sewage disappearing somewhere invisible. Drilling a borewell and pumping untreated effluent into it sends the contamination directly into the groundwater table. That contamination does not stay on one farm or one field. Groundwater does not respect property boundaries. It moves through the aquifer and surfaces in wells, borewells, and water supply sources across a wide area.

The Bhagomajra location is along national highways, in a belt where agriculture is still the primary livelihood for village residents. Contaminated groundwater in an agricultural zone is not just an environmental violation. It is a threat to the food produced in those fields and to the health of residents who depend on that water.

The PPCB's Track Record Here

The pollution control board has been in the picture for each of the documented cases in Mohali's sewage problem, and the record is consistent: show-cause notices, requests for explanation, and continuation of the problem.

The Bhagomajra panchayat's specific frustration, that the PPCB has been informed repeatedly and continues to watch without acting, echoes what sarpanches from Rani Majra, Togan, and Palheri said in 2023 about the same board turning a blind eye to the same kind of violation.

The PPCB is not toothless. It has the authority to close projects, impose fines, and initiate prosecution under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. The gap between those powers and the documented inaction is a governance question that the new Mohali Mayor, who has listed civic infrastructure as a first-term priority, now inherits along with the garbage and the bus service.

What This Means for the NH Corridor

The projects accused of this practice are described as being along national highways and on village periphery. This is the real estate growth belt that runs along the Mohali airport road, the Kharar-Landran corridor, and the Sunny Enclave-Banur axis. This is where the bulk of Mohali's affordable and mid-range residential development has been happening over the past five years. It is where the 130-plus sub-Rs 1 crore 3 BHK listings are concentrated.

For buyers in these projects, the STP question is a due diligence item that is almost never asked at the time of booking. A project's RERA registration confirms that the developer filed the requisite documents. It does not automatically confirm that the STP is functional, that the developer is not cutting corners on sewage infrastructure, or that groundwater in the vicinity is clean.

The PPCB show-cause notices are public records. Buyers considering projects in the NH corridor and Kharar-Landran belt should check whether the specific project or developer has received any PPCB notices before committing. JTPL in Sector 115 received one in 2023 and it is on record. What is happening in Bhagomajra involves firms that have apparently not yet been formally noticed, because the borewell method was harder to detect.

The Bhagomajra panchayat's demand for a high-level inquiry is the mechanism through which that detection might formally happen. Whether it does depends on whether the inquiry is ordered, and whether the PPCB is directed to act on what it finds.

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Sources
- The Tribune — Mohali village residents demand inquiry into illegal sewage disposal, June 23, 2026
- The Tribune — Sewage of housing projects ending up on farmland at 3 Mohali villages, February 24, 2023
- The Tribune — Mohali Mayor seeks action on sewage water discharge from Chandigarh into N-Choe, March 16, 2026
- PPCB show-cause notice — M/s JTPL Townships Private Limited, Sector 115, Kharar, February 3, 2023