Seechewal men start plugging sewage flow into Kali Bein

Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, Punjab: In an attempt to ensure stoppage of inflow of sewage water into the Kali Bein rivulet, followers of environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal, on Tuesday, started Kar Sewa for the construction of a pond at Mahabalipur village near here.

The state government is supposed to provide the requisite material including pipelines and labour and technical knowhow was to be provided by Seechewal on the community service basis.

As many as 19 villages were identified by the district administration for the project from where sewage water was being released into nearby drains, which, in turn, were polluting the water of the rivulet.

The rivulet was declared holy by the state government because of its religious relevance with Guru Nanak Devji.

The villages, identified by the state government, include Bhadas, Rai Pirbaksh, Talwara, Husewala, Talwandi Purdal, Bhano Lang a, Tong awali, Nano Mallian, Mahabalipur, Amarjeetpur, Rampur Jagir, Rampur Basti, Mithra, Mehmadwal, Nurpur Dona, Doburji, Nizampur, Bijola, Mainwa And Theh Kanjla.

“On February 7, a meeting in this regard is to be held with the CM to assess the progress of the project. On March 29, last year, the CM had asked all the DCs to submit a report within 15 days but the administration failed to do so. In October, we had proposed to provide free manpower to build the ponds. Now it is up to the district administration to provide material and requisite infrastructure,” Seechewal said.

Block development and panchayat officer Harbilas Bagla, JE Lakhwinder Singh, Panchayat secretary Raminder Singh, Sarpanch of the village Mahabalipur were among those present on the occasion.

Source: HT