AMRUT project misses another deadline

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, August 13

The ongoing work of laying sewer lines under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) project in the city is running at a snail’s pace and has missed another deadline.

Work to be completed by Aug

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The deadline has been extended to the end of August. We are hopeful that the work will be completed by then.~

— Pardeep Kumar, Junior Engineer (JE) at KMC

Will review projects

I will review both projects soon and ensure their speedy completion with quality work.~

— Niraj Kadiyan, Municipal Commissioner

Initial deadline was October 2019

The project commenced in November 2017, with the initial deadline of October 2019, which was first extended to March 31, 2020, then to December 31,

2020, further to June 30, 2021, and again to February 28, 2022. Despite these extensions, the agencies responsible for the work failed to meet the targets.

AMRUT, one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has faced several challenges since its inception, leading to multiple extensions of the deadline.

Under this project, around 150 kms of sewerage pipelines were to be laid in deficit colonies, along with the construction of a 20 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) at Phoosgarh, an 8 MLD STP in Shiv Colony, and intermediate pumping stations (IPS) in Sugar Mill and Saidpura.

The project commenced in November 2017, with the initial deadline of October 2019, which was first extended to March 31, 2020, then to December 31, 2020, further to June 30, 2021, and again to February 28, 2022. Despite these extensions, the agencies responsible for the work failed to meet the targets. As a result, the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) imposed penalties on both agencies and reassigned the work to a new contractor on a risk and cost basis, said an official.

He confirmed that the new agency began work in March 2023, with a deadline set for June 2024. While the STPs and IPSs have been completed, around 1.5 km of sewerage line work remains unfinished in Phoosgarh, Dholgarh, Budakhera, and other colonies. The fresh deadline has been extended to August 31, 2024.

“The deadline has been extended to the end of August. We are hopeful that the work will be completed by then,” said Pardeep Kumar, Junior Engineer (JE) at KMC.

In addition to the sewerage work, the replacement of aging and damaged stormwater pipelines in Sector 13 was being done at a slow pace. The contract for this work was finalised in February this year, with the agency expected to complete it within two months. However, the existing pipelines on Moolchand Hospital Road, which were not of uniform size and had suffered damages over the years, had caused delays. Issues related to connectivity and rainfall further hindered progress.

Monika Sharma, Executive Engineer (XEN) KMC, said the cost of the project was Rs 19 lakh and it was likely to be completed by the end of this month. “There are some connectivity issues and other challenges. The rainfall has also created hurdles in the completion of the project,” she said.

Niraj Kadiyan, Municipal Commissioner, who has joined recently, said, “I will review both projects soon and ensure their speedy completion with quality work.”