Sewerage collapses, dirty water floods city roads

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 13

The sewerage system in the city collapsed due to a leakage in the valve at the main disposal located on the Mansa road below the flyover. Around 2.30 pm, all the motors were stopped owing to the leakage in the valve, which led to closure of the sewerage system in the city and sewer water started overflowing on roads at most places in the city.

The sewer water started entering the houses of residents in various areas. However, after getting information of leakage, officials of the Municipal Corporation, the Sewerage Board and Triveni company reached the spot and started repairing the default. For repairing, all the five motors had to be kept shut for around seven hours.

The dirty water accumulated on Power House road, owing to which commuters faced difficulty in commuting along the road through the dirty water which was emitting a foul smell.

The development further hit the already affected sewerage system as for the last one month the MCB had been flooded with complaints of sewerage and the sewerage board had failed to address 127 complaints of sewage overflow in various areas of the city.

Residents also protested against the MCB, the sewerage board and Triveni company over the collapsing of the sewerage system in the city. They alleged that all these three agencies were only passing the buck on each other over the sewerage problem but nobody was working to resolve it.

Pardeep Kumar Gola, municipal councillor from Ward No.42, had already announced that they would stage a protest tomorrow by cleaning the sewerage in Partap Nagar on his own along with residents. He alleged that for the last 20 days the sewerage in his area had been lying choked and despite repeated complaints, nothing had been done in this regard by officials.

It is pertinent to mention that arranging more motors before the rains was a herculean task for the debt-ridden MCB. If the MCB purchases five new motors then it would have to spend Rs 1 crore, while if it makes any temporary arrangements then it would have to spend Rs 30 lakh on the material of the motors.

Earlier, the MCB had floated a tender for the purchase of two motors at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, but work at the ground level had not been initiated till date.

The MCB has taken a decision to install motors at the main disposal, which was purchased for installing at the new STP on the Mansa road, so that the city doesn’t face any problem in the rainy season. Owing to a delay in the construction work of STP, these motors have been lying unsued.