Work begins to stop dirty water flow into Buddha Nullah under kar sewa
After plugging some outlets flowing cow dung, the work has begun in three villages to stop dirty water of eight villages falling into the Buddha Nullah during the ongoing kar sewa spearheaded by environmentalist-turned-parliamentarian Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal to clean and preserve the Sutlej tributary.
Following his visit to the villages and reviewing of the ongoing works, Seechewal said the construction work of three wells being built in Bhukhri Khurd village was 70 per cent complete while a similar work was about to be completed in Lakhowal village.
He said the cleaning of a village pond in Bhukhri Khurd remains a big challenge. It was located on the banks of the nullah. It took about a week to remove cow dung from dairies along the pond.
He said two machines were running continuously day and night to remove the accumulated cow dung. “Now, the work of the wells being built under the Seechewal model is about to be completed and soon the dirty water of the village will be treated and used for agriculture,” he said.
A separate team was engaged in building a pond in Lakhowal village. Besides, the work of digging and building a pond was going on at Budhhewal village.
During the ongoing kar sewa, the work was on at four places. Two excavator machines have been deployed to remove silt from the Buddha Nullah near the pumping station, close to Gurdwara Gaughat and 225 MLD treatment plant on the Jamalpur road.
“The waterbody was flowing in the opposite direction due to the deposition of 8 to 10 feet of silt. With the operation of the excavator machines, a large amount of silt has already been removed from the tributary, following which the water flow has started moving in the right direction,” Seechewal said while adding that the bathing ghat being built on the Jamalpur road was also being finalised and stones had also been ordered to build more ghats along the nullah.
Grants of Rs 22L released
Dirty water from eight villages located in the upper region of the Buddha Nullah was flowing into the waterbody. As part of arrangements being made to stop the same, a grant of Rs 15 lakh has been released by Seechewal to provide vacuum tankers of 6,000 litres to four villages. These will be used to pick up faeces from dairies and take it to the fields. Another grant of Rs 7.31 lakh has been released by the environmentalist to two villages for purchase of new tankers of 5,000 litres of drinking water.
Kar sewa enters 2nd month
Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal had started the kar sewa on December 28 last to stop the toxic and dirty water flowing into the Buddha Nullah. During the first phase of the kar sewa, saplings were planted on the banks of the Sutlej tributary. The second phase of the kar sewa was launched to stop the discharge of dirty water from dairies, factories and urban drains.
