MP Seechewal inaugurates project to purify pond water at Hoshiarpur village

Rajya Sabha member and environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal and Punjab Local Government Minister Ravjot Singh jointly launched a project to purify pond water and use it for irrigation, at Kandhali Narangpur village of Tanda tehsil in Hoshiarpur.

He said the villagers would get the benefit of the project within the next six months.

After laying the foundation stone of the pond renovation work, Seechewal said that the purification of the pond would be based on the Seechewal model under which water would be used for irrigation by laying pipes with the expertise of the Soil Conservation Department. He said that this work would be completed at a cost of Rs 20 lakh, out of which a grant of Rs 10 lakh would be spent from his discretionary fund and Rs 10 lakh from MGNREGA funds. He claimed that the Seechewal model was a very effective one for making the ponds look clean and beautiful. He said the model was currently running successfully in about 250 villages. He said as the model had been adopted by the Punjab Government, it would be applied in more villages as per requirement.

Minister Ravjot Singh said that Rs 14.524 crore had been allocated in the budget for agriculture and allied sectors which was five per cent more than last year, Rs 137 crore has been provided in the budget during the current financial year.

The Cabinet Minister said that the Punjab Government had proposed to install 40 deep tubewells and 167 small tubewells near the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi canals in Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar and Pathankot districts. He said that under this initiative, irrigation in 7,877 hectares of agricultural land will get a new boost at a cost of Rs 85 crore.