Hundreds of villages in Punjab are facing the problem of drainage system to deal with the sullage water going into ponds in the absence of any framework and efficient planning. The districts such as Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Amritsar are the worst affected with the problem and needs an immediate attention.

On the other hand, though the state government is working on a few precautionary measures, but the fruitful results appears to be time taking. The issue in this regard was highlighted in the Punjab Assembly on Monday by the Congress legislator Joginder Pal when has asked the state government to explain the arrangements being made by it in the villages which do not have proper drainage system for sullage water.

Giving a reply in the Assembly, Rural Development and Panchayat minister, TripatRajinder Singh Bajwa said that a new scheme for liquid waste management in rural areas is under consideration by the government for proper management of the waste water. “Every village has its own problem.

We can provide an exclusive budgetary allocation to a particular village which is the worst affected. The state and the Central government is considering a comprehensive scheme for the villages not having the solution to deal with sullage water,” he said.

The minister further said that almost all the legislators are receiving the complaints from villagers who are affected by the problem of the poor drainage system. He further said that as a first step, a total of 748 villages have been listed out from the entire state which will be considered under the scheme to be introduced for the proper drainage system in villages.

Meanwhile, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, a Congress legislator from Giddarbaha constituency in Muktsar claimed that the people in the villages are living under pitiable conditions in the absence of any proper solution to the problem. He also demanded the allocation of separate funds exclusively to be allotted to upgrade the ponds in the villages.

In a recent development, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has decided to clean village ponds in the state using the Seechewal model. The board has decided to start this initiative in around 300 villages as a first step. As per the move, the ponds will be cleaned and its water can be used for irrigation purposes.

Under the model, around four small wells will be constructed, where water will be treated by different methods before it is drained into the village pond. “At present, the ponds in almost all villages have been polluted as the sewage is also being drained into these. Besides, some ponds in villages with small or large scale industries are also witnessing the inflow of effluents,” said PPCB Chairman, KS Pannu.