Bajwa orders eviction of encroachments from village pond lands

Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa today issued instructions to the officials of his department to remove the illegal encroachments from the village pond lands.
He also directed them to ensure a proper maintenance and utilisation of the ponds.
The minister ordered the officials to restore status quo ante (the previously existing state of affairs) after getting the records of the pond lands from the Revenue department.
The lands should be marked on the basis of the records and the illegal encroachments should be removed from them, he said here in a statement.
Bajwa said it was because of these encroachments that there were no outlets for the drains, leading to disputes among the people over the dirty, stagnant water.

He also asked the officials to explore the possibilities of treating the sewage water for irrigation and added that the treated water could be supplied to the fields by installing solar-powered pumps in the ponds, for which the government was providing an 80-per cent subsidy.
The ponds could also be used to harvest rain water as currently, the only outlet for the rain water were drains which resulted in its wastage, the minister said.
"Rain water harvesting will also help raise the sub-soil water level," he added.