Pond comes up illegally in Faridkot village, no trace of dug up soil
FARIDKOT: The district administration was left red-faced after soil worth lakhs of rupees disappeared from 10 acres of government land where an illegal pond was dug up, in Tehna village, five kilometres from Faridkot city.
A source privy to the development said that no permission was sought from the administration before digging up the pond, about eight-ft deep, for reportedly draining out overflowing sewage water from another pond in the village.
The district administration has started an internal probe and the revenue officials who visited the spot have conveyed to the higher authorities that the matter required a detailed probe, the source added.
“The villagers dug up the pond illegally, however, no one knows where the soil from the land went. This is a matter of investigation and has raised serious questions on who supervised the project,” said a senior district administration official.
A revenue official (patwari) told Hindustan Times that the estimated cost of soil dug up from the spot is around ₹40 lakh.
When Hindustan Times visited the spot, villagers said that the pond came up somewhere between April and May this year, however, they had no clue as to where the soil went.
Former sarpanch of Tehna village Balkar Singh, who recently completed his tenure, clarified that the panchayat has neither passed any resolution nor taken any permission regarding the project.
“The panchayat has nothing to do with the project. It is a Congress leader who is running the project,” said the ex-sarpanch.
In April, the district administration had razed 56 illegal structures from the government land adjoining the area where the new pond has come up.
When contacted, Faridkot subdivisional magistrate Paramdeep Singh said, “The matter was brought to my notice and I will be personally visiting the spot for further inspection. We have ordered a probe and strict action will be taken against the guilty.”