Khanna: Save water,our future generations will crave for it

His efforts have borne fruit with the temple management of Sarthali Mandir in Noorpur Bedi and Nandlal Temple in Hoshiarpur adopting water-saving techniques.

“Every day,devotees donate hundreds of litres of water and milk at these temples,but it all goes down the drain. We advised 80 temple managements in the state to construct recharge pits; two have done it,” said Khanna.

He added that 70 to 80 NGOs in the state were working in coordination with the BJP NGO Cell on the issue. In Khanna’s own constituency,NGO Bhumi has adopted some schools and got recharging of groundwater started in a colony.

Sudhir Aggarwal,a local BJP leader,said,“The number of tubewells in the state has increased from 2 lakh in 1970 to more than 14 lakh now. Wall-to-wall roads and streets make groundwater recharge impossible.”

Ironically,BJP councillors are among those getting estimates passed to get wall-to-wall roads constructed in their wards. Senior Deputy Mayor Parveen Bansal said,“I know a number of councillors are executing such projects in their wards in the name of development. It should not be done.”

Khanna however ruled out politics being behind the campaign,“This has nothing to do with the elections. We are working on the issue because the way ground water level is depleting in Punjab,our future generations will crave for it.”