Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Wednesday urged people of the state, especially the office bearers of Panchayati Raj institutions to come forward to save ecosystem and work for conservation of water along with the development of villages.
Addressing a function organized by the Punjab unit of 'Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Management' at Punjab Congress Bhawan to celebrate 'Panchayat Divas' here, the Panchayat Minister said that out of 148 blocks of Punjab, in 122 blocks ground water has gone very deep and due to this installation of new tubewells has been banned in these blocks.
He said that the farmers of Punjab would have to give priority to other crops rather than paddy as 5000 to 6000 liters of water is used for producing one kg of paddy. Bajwa said that about 14 lakh tubewells are being were being used for agriculture purposes and the state government is working on to provide direct subsidy to the farmers so that water could be used judiciously.
On the preparations for panchayat elections in the state which are due in few months, Bajwa said that the work for delimitation of wards and reservation for these elections would be completed by the end of this month.