Rs136-cr project to revamp Shimla’s sewerage

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 13

The Shimla Municipal Corporation’s (MC) proposed Rs 136 crore water and sewerage rejuvenation project aims at covering the left out 35 per cent city areas, plugging rampant leakages and missing links in the capital city and make it clean and stench-free, but the MC is still awaiting World Bank funds for this.

The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for the rejuvenation of the jaded sewerage system, linking the periphery areas to the new system, but the MC has amended the DPR and submitted it to the Ministry of Urban Development for World Bank funding.

The SMC is clueless as just 35 per cent of the sewage flowing from old and new sewerage lines end up in sewerage water treatment plants. The rest of the dirty water either ends up in nullahs or in private septic tanks or pipelines, which are bugged by farmers living in peripheries using it for irrigation of vegetables, IPH officials said.

They found that the sullage was allowed to dispose of in the open in the nullahs as per the old bylaws and the branch sewers were not laid properly connecting these to treatment plants.

Certain lines were worn out, while some areas in Dhalli, Sanjauli-Maliana zones and other peripheries were yet to have sewerage connectivity and needed smaller treatment plants, they found.

The IPH has failed to utilise the Rs 53.2 crore fund meant for the improvement of sewerage lines under the Jawahar Lal Urban Renewal Mission in 2010 which was lapsed by the Ministry of Urban Development.

“We have amended the DPR presented to the corporation by the IPH Department. It tailors to the needs of the city,” said Sanjay Chauhan, Mayor Shimla.

“We have submitted the Rs 136.93 crore project to the Ministry of Urban Development and await approval and funds from the World Bank,” he said.

The present sewerage system has a capacity of 35.63 MLD in six treatment plants. But the proposed plants aim at creating 40.63 MLD capacity that would cater to the needs of city population up to 2,032 and could be upgraded to 49.96 MLD capacity that would take care of the city till 2047, IPH engineers said.

Chauhan said as soon as the MC gets funds they would start the work immediately plugging each leakage and covering the entire population under the sewerage network.