The Fact News Service
Chandigarh, May 27
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Punjab Government’s mission to rejuvenate and transform state villages is showing strong results. According to village Sarpanches, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government is bringing meaningful change to the villages of Punjab.
Speaking at a press conference at Punjab Bhawan, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond said, with a focus on rural transformation, the Punjab Government has rolled out a large-scale initiative to clean and treat 15,000 ponds across villages. The mission is being implemented in a phased, decentralised, and participatory manner across 154 blocks of Punjab.
He shared that dewatering is completed in 3973 ponds and is nearing completion in another 6,606. De-watering activity in all the ponds will be completed by 30th May, 2025, marking the first time pond cleaning will be done before the monsoon season.
He further said that de-silting has been completed in 1,223 ponds, and is underway in 3,267 more. 5000 Thapar Models are being constructed in Phase I of financial year 2025-26.
During the press conference, Sarpanches from Rupnagar district’s villages Boormajra and Khairabad- Harpreet Kaur and Hardeep Kaur, as well as Inderdeep Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib’s Sanipur village, expressed their satisfaction with the government’s efforts. They said the work accomplished by the AAP Government was unprecedented.
Success Stories from Villages:
In Boormajra, a 1.5-acre pond is being cleaned for the first time at this scale. Dewatering has been completed and 80% of de-silting work has also been done. The silt removed from the pond is being used to level the village playground, pond boundary. In the next 10 days, the Thapar/Seechewal Model of pond treatment will begin to further clean and treat the water. The initiative has received enthusiastic support from local residents.
In Khairabad, the 1-acre pond had not been cleaned for over 10 years and was filled with dirty, stagnant water. Now, after de-watering and de-silting, the pond is dry and usable again. Farmers will soon be able to use its clean water for irrigation. The silt from the pond was used to build a proper pond boundary, making it easy to walk around, and the village’s 2,100 residents have pledged to keep the pond clean and garbage-free moving forward.
In Sanipur, a village with a population of 3,000, the pond had never been cleaned before. Now, water has been drained and 60% of de-silting is complete. The remaining work will be finished within a week. Previously a health hazard filled with stagnant, foul-smelling water and breeding mosquitoes, the pond is now being revived. The fertile silt is being used to level village playgrounds, and villagers themselves are taking it to use on their farms. The Thapar/Seechewal model will be launched in the first week of June to treat and purify the pond water.
Minister Sond concluded by stating that the people of Punjab are now witnessing real, on-the-ground development in villages. The government remains committed to taking Punjab to greater heights in the days to come.
