Mahilpur: Shiv Kumar Bawa: Punjab is the state in which the Government have been providing free electricity to the farmers for the irrigation purposes but the Government have no policy for conserving the underground water and thus, no policy for providing free drinking water facility to the citizens of Punjab. Notably, as the underground water level is decreasing day by day, the hand pumps and other drinking water domestic facilities have eloped from the society and the citizens are mostly dependent on the Submersible Pump sets at their homes and Government Water Supply.
A few weeks ago, the Water Supply department of Punjab disconnected the drinking water connections of various families of villages Chakk Nariyal, Barapur, Jandiala, Gajjar, Mehdood and some other villages because of non-payment of the bills. Hundreds of families are bound to bring the water from a well and utilize for drinking and other purposes of daily usage from last 22 days.
Kuldeep Singh, Tara Singh, Satwinder Singh, Paramjit Kaur, Sukhwinder Singh, Charanjit Kaur, Jasvir Kaur, Jaswinder Kaur, Kuldeep Kaur, Paramjit Pammi, Harminder Kaur and some other villagers in a joint statement to the Spot News India said, “We deposited the water bill when our water connections were cut by the department and inspite of it, the connections are not re-installed yet.”
On the other hand, Sarpanch Gurmail Singh said that the connections will be re-installed soon.
The Punjab Government have failed to stop the over exploitation of the underground water, though it is through free electricity to farmers or through submersible pump sets in the domestic households and commercial buildings (restaurants, hotels, etc.)
Punjab Government should come forward with a comprehensive policy to conserve the underground water.
