The methodology of roping in various field Departments to plug the abandoned borewells worked wonders in the state with successful plugging of 2,309 abandoned borewells, KS Pannu Mission Director, Tandrust Punjab Mission said on Saturday

Pannu informed that as per the status of the compliance reports received so far, 2309 out of 2333 identified abandoned borewells have been plugged including 1397 identified by the District Administration with the help of Agriculture Department, 553 by Tubewell Corporation and 359 by Irrigation Department.

Glance at the district-wise report shows that District Sangrur has plugged 419 followed by Amritsar with the closure of 319 borewells. Bathinda closed 131,SAS Nagar 123 while Mansa closed 110.

Expressing satisfaction over the work done so far, Pannu said that within days of roping in the field staff of various Departments, over 2000 abandoned borewells have been successfully plugged due the concerted joint efforts of all.

He added that task is not over yet and we are trying to identify more such borewells and will plug them up at the earliest.

Notably, Punjab Government had come under fire from the opposition over the tragic death of two-year-old toddler Fatehveer, who had fallen into an abandoned borewell in Sangrur. The child, had stuck in a 150-foor-deep borewell shaft at the height of 125 feet in Sangrur district, and was pulled out dead bringing nearly five-day rescue operation to a tragic end on June 11.

On June 13, a letter was written under Tandrust Punjab Mission to all the DCs to ensure that all the abandoned borewells are properly filled and plugged.

It was also proposed by the government that criminal action should be taken against any person who does not plug such borewells within a period of one month. Any mishap in such borewells should attract penalty against the owner of the land under various provisions of Indian Penal Code by lodging FIR against such person. Even a reward of Rs 5000 after verification of information, has been offered.