The Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, has decided to go for the all round development of the state’s villages on the pattern of villages Haripur and Seechewal (Jalandhar). The Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Punjab, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa has directed the senior officers of the department to tour both the villages and grasp very minutely every aspect of their developmental model so as to implement it in other villages also.Divulging this, the Financial Commissioner of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department Mr. Anurag Verma said that as per the directions of the minister, the departmental officers and the panchayati raj engineers have prepared a proposal based on the developmental model of the villages after visiting them. The execution process has been set in motion after carefully examining all the finer points. The Financial Commissioner said that all the Additional Deputy Commisioners (Development), Deputy Directors, DDPOs and Executive Engineers of the department have been instructed to visit both these villages.
Mr. Verma further said that village haripur having a population of 2000 and 450 households is being given a facelift with the assistance of the Punjab Government and the village people by laying sewerage and installing interlocking paver blocks of cement concrete in the streets. The Punjab Government has given a grant of Rs. 11 lakh for the concretization of the streets and the NRI diaspora has contributed Rs. 1.29 crore for the sprucing up of the infrastructure in the village. Not only this but the manholes have also been constructed on the 100 ft distance in the sewerage line being laid out in the village with RCC pipes thus accruing an expenditure of Rs. 60 lakh. To prevent the sewerage from clogging, the polluted water from the households before being put in the sewerage, is made to pass through the septic tank and the inspection chamber in order to ensure that no solid waste comes into the ‘houdi’ constructed outside.
Disclosing more, Mr. Verma said that the pond of the size of 1 acre is divided into 2 parts with one part having storm water while the other having treated sewerage water. In the sewerage treatment plant based on the seechewal model the polluted water while passing through the screening chamber first goes to the well separating silt and then in the second well the oil content as well as the floating garbage content is segregated from this water. Afterwards, the water comes to the third well leveling the oil and then goes to the pond after getting treated. With the sunrays and the natural oxygen content the water becomes so clean that it can be used for the irrigational purposes.The Financial Commissioner also elaborated that a pathway for taking stroll has also been constructed for the people by having paver blocks installed outside these ponds which also has trees at every step.The brick lining work has also been done on the slopes of the ponds. An inspection chamber has been set up 100 ft before the pond for draining out the storm water. The storm water is accumulated in the inspection chamber and then drained out in the storm drains through the pipelines. The storm water gets stored in the inspection chamber via natural flow above the street floor.
He also said that paver blocks are being installed in the 1 lakh square ft area of the village which would cost approximately Rs. 52 lakh with Rs. 40 lakh already spent.The village people have bought a tractor-trolley in which the garbage of all the households is accumulated and disposed off at the common land outside the village. The pavers have been installed on the village central thoroughfare (Phirni) with the government grant of Rs. 11 lakh.Similarly, the development oriented works are being carried out with elan by Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal and the villagers of seechewal village. The water is cleaned and treated with the usage of the natural resources which is well supplemented by the excellent sewerage system. Mr. Verma also added that Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa had himself visited both these villages and was impressed by the developmental works done. Afterwards, the minister directed all the departmental officers to study the development model of these villages to replicate it in other villages also. The minister has also exhorted all the village panchayats to visit these villages and undertake development centric projects in their respective villages on the same pattern.