Owing to concerted efforts of Punjab government towards making adequate arrangements for solid and liquid waste management in rural areas, the Centre has selected 171 villages across the state under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan. The move would benefit around 33,000 households, which would be equipped with proper sanitation facilities under the scheme, said a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office.
He said that under the NBA — a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with broader goal to eradicate the practice of open defecation, the Union government has allotted Rs 17.09 crore to these 171 villages under the annual action plan for 2013-14.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, also holding the portfolio of Water Supply and Sanitation, had sought a special provision of Rs 750 crore especially for improving village ponds under the NBA because these ponds which were once source of drinking water have now turned into ugly site of sewage.
Under the project, 4248 households in 24 villages of Amritsar, 7372 households in 20 villages of Bathinda, 476 in nine villages of Fatehgarh Sahib, 717 in 11 villages of Ferozepur, 573 in eight villages of Gurdaspur, 256 in three villages of Hoshiarpur, 1464 in eight villages of Jalandhar, 1287 in 11 villages of Kapurthala, 3856 in eight villages of ludhiana, 1600 in seven villages of Mansa, 741 in four villages of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawan-shahr), 5201 of 19 villages in Patiala, 1874 in 19 villages of Roopnagar, 2211 in 10 villages of SAS Nagar (Mohali) and 1578 in 10 villages of Sangrur district would be benefited.