Thousands of residents of Tibber village, officially reckoned to be the largest one of this border district with a population exceeding 10,000 people, heaved a sigh of relief after the state government sanctioned several sewerage projects, including a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP), worth Rs 27.43 crore.
Raman Bahl, former chairman of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) and AAP halqa in-charge of Gurdaspur assembly seat, said, “I have been running from pillar to post to get this project sanctioned. I had also met AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann to expedite things. Finally, the Punjab Government sanctioned the venture. The village has 1,500 households and all of them had complained that the present sewerage system had become outdated. The villagers had neither access to potable drinking water nor did they have an infrastructure to collect, transport and treat waste water.”
The Punjab Government has floated tenders for the project. “Work is likely to start next month after the contractor is finalised. With this, a long-pending demand of Tibber residents has been fulfilled,” said an administration official.
Bahl added, “Leaders of traditional political parties had also remained in power earlier, but they never paid attention to the problems of residents of this village. Residents were forced to live in appalling conditions caused by unhygienic wastewater.”
A local resident said, “A Punjab Government spokesman has informed us that a 1.50 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant, too, will be established. Approximately 19 km of sewerage pipelines will be laid, and 11 km of old water supply pipelines will be replaced. It is indeed a red-letter day for us.”
