To recognize the " Sewa" performed by the officials, employees and workers of the water supply and sanitation department during the 550th Gurpurab celebrations at Sultanpur lodhi and Dera Baba Nanak , more than 200 officials were awarded with certificate of appreciation, who worked with missionary zeal to cater the more than 50 lakh pilgrims. Speaking on the occasion Secretary water supply and sanitation, Mrs. Jaspreet Talwar termed it as a huge challenge to provide water supply and sanitation facilities to cater the more than 50 lakh pilgrims besides managing 4000 toilets and their wastage.She said that "It was the need of the hour to go eco-friendly to protect our natural recourses as Sri Gur Nanak Dev ji had laid emphasis over environment protection" and to follow the path shown by the great Guru, the department made adequate arrangements to save the ground water from contamination at holy city during 550th celebrations.Thanking the officials , employees and workers , she said that the functions like 550th gurpurab happens rarely in life and it was a matter of great pride to serve the humanity by providing hassle free water supply and sanitation services .She said that the department had chalked out a comprehensive plan at par with Kumbh mela and after proper planning it was executed with a missionary zeal during the one month long Gurpurab celebrations.She also called the officials to come forward for social service by providing clean drinking water in rural areas.
Welcoming the officials of the department , Deputy commissioner Jalandhar , Mr. Varinder Kumar sharma hailed the efforts of water supply and sanitation department in the Gurpurab celebrations.Mr. Mohammad Ishfaq IAS , additional secretary to the department said that the department has launched the special Mobile App " WSS550" to ensures 24X7 monitoring of Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Holy city.To provide the drinking water the department has set up 10 water ATMs, 107 steel water dispensers , 131 water storage tanks and 8 tubewells besides ensuring 100 % chlorination. Besides that to attend the sea of pilgrims more than 4000 toilets, 10 water ATMs and 50 Water Stations were set up by the department.In a major step to prevent the ground water from contamination due to heavy influx of pilgrims, the department has taken a unique initiative by carrying the septage and sullage of all 4000 toilets unites to the sewerage treatment plants of Makhu and Zira Tehsil with 66 GPS enabled vehicles .Besides that 60 sanitary pads vending machines were also installed to ensure menstrual hygiene among women pilgrims in Sultanpur Lodhi.Er. Anil Kumar bansal , chief engineer , various SEs , SDOs and other officers were also present on the occasion.