Dirty pond to generate revenue for residents of Ayali village soon

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 26

A pond emanating foul smell will soon be cleaned at Ayali village.

Thanks to the initiative taken by Ashok Parbhakar, a native of Ayali village, who lives in the city. He got a machine installed at the pond to get rid of the foul smell emanating from it. Not just cleaning it, but residents are also planning to turn the pond into a lake so that it could generate some revenue for the villagers.

Ashok said whenever he visited the village he used to feel bad about the foul smell emanating from the pond. “It was particularly bad for the health of schoolchildren as the village school is nearby. It was getting difficult for students as well as teachers to attend the school regularly because of this problem,” Parbhakar said. “So I discussed about the possible solutions and on suggestions of friends, got this machine imported from Canada, which is already helping in cleaning the pond,” he said. “We have got a windmill-based mechanism. As the windmill will spin, it will churn water, which has been under the thick formation of weeds, bacteria and algae, oxygenating it,” he said. “In collaboration with the village panchayat, we got the MGNREGS labourers to clean the pond,” he said.

“After weeds are removed, we are also going to release the bacteria brought from Canada, that will eat away the bad bacteria,” he says.

“We are talking to the Punjab Agricultural University authorities if the bacteria can be brought from here to clean the pond,” he said.

After that he along with panchayat members plan to turn the pond into a small lake.

“Following this, we will also rear fish here. Along with that, we will also grow lotus flowers in the pond. Lotus flowers are in high demand during Diwali. So selling these can also generate revenue for the panchayat,” he said. “Then we are also considering to start mud, steam bath in the area which will also add to the source of income,” Parbhakar said.

Village sarpanch Surjit Singh said it would be a good opportunity for the village. “We hope to clean the pond completely. It is going to be a relief as the pond had become full of weeds,” he said.