Process to notify water bodies on, all encroachments to go

In a move to earmark the area under natural water bodies in the state, the government has initiated the process of notifying all rivers, drains and choes under the Punjab Canal and Drainage Act, 2023. All illegally occupied areas will be cleared of encroachments after the process was completed.

Technology-backed project

We have undertaken a technology-backed project involving the geographic information system (GIS). Instead of private agencies, we are using the field staff of our own department to prepare digital maps to identify specific areas that will be made encroachment-free. Official of the Water Resources Department

A senior official of the Water Resources Department said the process had begun with the government first handling drains. As many as 514 drains out of total 935 in the state had been notified.

Showing the ground situation of encroachments at various places all over the state, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu had, in July 2023, informed the Lok Sabha that “according to a recent survey, Punjab has 16,012 water bodies out of which 1,578 have been encroached upon at various places”.

The data was based on a field census of water bodies, which was conducted for the first time at the national level in 2019. Published in March 2023, the figures indicated that at least 10 per cent of the water bodies in the state were affected by encroachments. This was the highest figure in the region.

Another senior official of the Water Resources Department said, “Once the process is complete, we will initiate a programme to get the encroached places vacated and take back their possession.”

“We have undertaken a technology-backed project involving the geographic information system (GIS). Instead of private agencies, we are using the field staff of our own department to prepare digital maps to identify specific areas that will be made encroachment-free,” he added.

There is no denying the fact that choes are vanishing at a number of places in the state. The natural path of water flow has witnessed construction of illegal residential colonies. Pictures highlighting this problem grab people’s attention generally during floods when many constructions that have come in the pathway of choes and drains get swept away.