No preparations in sight for monsoon

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 28

Even as monsoons have come knocking, the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar seems to have not even begun any preparationto meet the challenge to check rainwater stagnation on city roads.

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

As per information received from 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 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 storm water sewage system — one on the Kapurthala road and another around Jyoti Chowk. No provision has been made till date to install more storm water sewerage due to paucity of funds.

Moreover, under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Scheme Rs 100 crore has been allotted for the repair and maintenance of the poor sewerage system. Of this amount, the MC had received Rs 50 crore till date which has been spent to install more sewerage lines and the repair of the old sewerage at a few colonies and commercial areas in the city. The tender to receive the remaining amount of Rs 50 crore has been prepared which aims to provide 100 per cent sewerage facility to every household by next year, claimed the officials.

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. The road in our area has been lying inundated with water overflowing from the sewerage for the past several months. The stretch has turned into a mosquito-breeding ground. There are chances of outbreak of dengue,” said Baljeet Kaur, a resident of Preet Nagar (Sodal).

Meanwhile, traders having shops along the road said they were bearing financial loss as customers were reluctant to come to them due to unhygienic conditions prevailing on the stretch. “Water is stagnating on the road most of the time. Customers avoid visiting our shops. Sewer water stinks throughout the day,” said a shopkeeper of the same area.

Urgent action by MC needed: Councillor

Councillor Balraj Thakur while keeping his firm point over the issue said: “There is only one separate system for drainage of rainwater that is located between Shastri Market to BMC Chowk. At other places, the rainwater drainage and sewerage systems are common and remain blocked due to accumulation of silt.”

The MC needs to take an urgent action and should soon install separate sewerage systems in commercial areas for speedy rainwater disposal as monsoon had almost reached the region, he said.

Leader of Opposition Jagdish Raja said: “The only thing that the staff of the O&M branch do is making bills of fuel used in desilting machinery. They do much less work on ground. The machinery remains installed at one site for weeks together and hardly remains operational. Regarding allocation of funds for monsoon preparedness, the Commissioner has the powers to get funds utilised on his own for such emergent situations without getting them passed through the House.”

Officialspeak

Superintending Engineer, Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Lakhwinder Singh said, “The development work is in progress under the NRCP scheme.”

He said: “The storm water sewerage requires expenditure of Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore and the required amount is much more than the allocated amount under the AMRUT scheme. Even the state government is facing a financial crisis and pulling out money for storm sewerage system would be a difficult task. For now, our only aim is to provide 100 per cent sewerage facility to every household,” he said.

MC Commissioner Basant Garg while taking stand on the issue said: “We are committed to provide every facility to every household and the issue will be observed on a priority basis by the district administration. The sewerage and its maintenance will be checked and worked upon soon.”