Road gullies, sewer lines yet to be cleared in city

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 2

Even as the monsoon is around 25-30 days away, the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Jalandhar seems to have not even begun any preparation to meet the challenge to check rainwater accumulation on city roads.

Sewerage lines have not been cleared of the accumulated silt and road gullies leading to the groundwater chambers lie covered with filth and cannot even be spotted along many roads. Even a short spell of pre-monsoon showers yesterday led to accumulation of water in low-lying areas of the city.

Forget roads, even the newly constructed railway under bridge (RUB) at Chandan Nagar, Sodal, gets filled with rainwater if it rains continuously for two hours. Besides, water also seeps from its roof. And, same is the condition of the Damoria overbridge as water leakage from the bridge during rains has become a common sight.

Despite repeated complaints regarding the overflowing sewerage water and the rainwater leakage, the civic authorities have turned a blind eye towards the problem, said residents of Shiv Nagar, Sodal.

As per information received from the MC officials, Rs 235 crore has been allocated for the development of the sewerage system in the city under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) scheme last year, but no progress has been made so far on the laying of storm water sewerage across the district.

For the past many years, only two sites have the storm water sewage system — one on the Kapurthala road and the other around Jyoti Chowk. No provision has been made till date to install more storm water sewerage due to the paucity of funds.

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Residents bear the brunt

Residents living alongside roads have complained of water contamination and looming threat of vector-borne diseases in their localities.

“We have complained to the officials concerned but to no avail. During monsoons, the area is found in most unhygienic conditions as water stands here for days due to fault in the sewerage system” said Baljeet Kaur, a resident of Preet Nagar (Sodal).

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Mayor promises action

Mayor, Jagdish Raja, said, “We are committed to providing every facility to every household and the issue will be addressed on a priority basis before the monsoons by the corporation. The sewerage and its maintenance will be checked and worked upon soon.”

We have also hired labourers for the cleaning of overfilled sewerages and in the next House meeting, all problems related to the issue will be discussed and strict action to solve the problem of water accumulation or leakage will be taken, he added.

On the release of funds under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for the repair and maintenance of the poor sewerage system in the district, Mayor said, “An amount of Rs 78 crore has been released. Of this amount, the MC had prepared three different tenders which, when passed, will be spent to install more sewerage lines and the repair of the old sewerage at a few colonies and commercial areas in the city. We aim to provide 100 per cent sewerage facility to every household by the year-end, and we are dedicated to work on the issue, he claimed.