Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Sunday issued instructions to the department officials to get the village pond lands vacated that have been illegally occupied by some people.Bajwa has directed the officials to get village ponds maintained properly for their proper utilisation.
The Minister ordered the officials to restore status quo ante after getting the record from the Revenue Department. The pond lands would be marked on the basis of the record and encroachments should be removed.
Bajwa said that it was because of these encroachments that there were no outlets for drains in the villages resulting in disputes among the people over stagnant dirty water.
Calling upon the department officials to explore possibilities of treating sewage water for irrigation purposes, Bajwa said that this treated water could be supplied to the fields by installing solar powered pumps on these ponds for which the government was providing 80 per cent subsidy.
The Minister said that these ponds could also be used for harvesting rain water as presently, the only outlet for this water are drains that results in its wastage. “Rain water harvesting could also help in raising the sub-soil water level,” he added.