Mohali’s new sectors nobody’s baby

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 10

Mohali’s new sectors — 66 to 69 — are apparently no one’s baby when it comes to maintenance of the area.

The simple reason is division of works in the area between two different agencies — GMADA and the Mohali Municipal Corporation.

GMADA is responsible for water supply and sewerage, while the rest of the civic works come under the Municipal Corporation.

These four sectors came under the MC limits in 2013 and the MC has also started collecting property tax from residents from January this year.

“Technically, the responsibility of all civil works lies on Mohali MC but for several works we are being sent to GMADA by the MC officials”, said the residents of the area.

“Whenever we (the residents) have some work related to maintenance, we have to make rounds of both departments. Officials of both agencies always try to thrust the responsibility of work on each other,” said Parwinder Singh, MC councillor of the area.

“It always seems to us that we are not part of the town,” lamented Satvir Singh Dhanoa, councillor of Sector 69, along with other residents, including Capt Makhan Singh (retd) and Sergeant Gurdip Singh Atwal (retd). Citing example of water supply in their area, the residents lamented that people here had been suffering a lot due to low water supply in their sectors.

“See, the entire Mohali, except our sectors, has its water supply from Kajauli waterworks, but our area gets its water supply from tubewells,” said Dhanoa.

For its water supply, the sectors in question depend on a total of 21 tubewells (14 for Sectors 68 and 69, 7 for Sectors 66 and 67). Of 14, around 4-5 tubewells always remain out of order in Sectors 68 and 69, claimed Dhanoa.

Similarly, Parwinder Singh said of 7 tubewells in his area, two tubewells had failed immediately after the installation last year.

“Snags usually develop in the rest of the tubewells as these are old,” claimed Parwinder Singh. As a result, the water supply in the area has been hit hard, said the residents, claiming that those living on second floors never get water supply.

However, GMADA’s Public Health Department’s Executive Engineer Vasudev Anand claimed that tubewells were enough to cater to the demand of water in the area. The demand is said to be around 3 MGD (million gallon per day) in the area.

According to residents, the area also witnesses blockage in sewers and road gullies, which lead to waterlogging in several parts.

“We pay sewerage charges to GMADA. Whenever, there is a blockage in sewer or road gully, we have to make rounds of both departments to get the work done,” said Gurdip Singh, a resident of the area.

Wild growth in vacant plots in the area is also a big problem as both departments refuse to do the work.

“When we approach the MC, they ask us to go to GMADA as it charges extension fee. When we go to GMADA, we are asked to contact MC officials as the area falls into MC limits,” said Parwinder Singh.

Residentspeak

We pay sewerage charges to GMADA. Whenever, there is a blockage in sewer or road gully, we have to make rounds of both departments to get the work done. — Gurdip Singh, a resident of the area

Officialspeak

The Mohali MC is yet to take over the health services. Things are ready at our end. The MC will soon be responsible for all services in the new sectors.

— Ravi Bhagat, GMADA Chief Administrator

Except for public health services, we are responsible for other works in the new sectors. Yes, process is on to get public health services from GMADA also. We have also written to GMADA to check the wild growth in the area as it comes under it only. — Rajesh Dhiman, MC Commissioner

These sectors came under MC limits in 2013

These four sectors came under the MC limits in 2013 and the MC has also started collecting property tax from residents from January this year.