Just a month after the issue of villages in Punjab facing the problem of proper drainage system to deal with sullage water going into ponds in the absence of any framework and efficient planning was discussed in detail during Punjab Assembly, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has come forward to tackle the situation.

In a recent communication with the Panchayati Raj department, the Board has asked the department to expedite efforts to clean around 20,000 ponds in 12,000 villages in the state. As part of the initiative, the Board has asked concerned Panchayat departments of to release sullage water from ponds to the fields for next two months so that the villagers can be provided a healthy and hygienic environment.

PPCB Chairman K S Pannu told The Statesman that the pollution erupted from these ponds are a major cause of ailments and destroying the village environment.

Pannu said after the crop cultivation, the fields in the state remain vacant for two months. The Panchayat department with the help of progressive farmers can help lift water from ponds through pipes that can be further diverted to the fields. He said that the sullage or mud can be lifted and spread in the fields that will act as organic fertiliser as it contains many chemical particles.

The districts such as Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Amritsar are the worst affected with the problem and needs an immediate attention. Congress legislator Joginder Pal who had raised the issue in the Assembly has welcomed the move, saying there is still need to be done more to get the villages clean.

However, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, TripatRajinder Singh Bajwa has said that a new scheme for liquid waste management in rural areas is under consideration by the government for proper management of wastewater.

“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.

He further said that as a first step, a total of 748 villages have been listed out from entire the state which will be considered under the scheme to be introduced for the proper drainage.