Owners of hotels, banquet halls in the dock for illegal sewage connections

The Panipat Municipal Corporation (MC) has served notices to owners of hotels and banquet halls for having illegal connections with the 7.5-km-long main sewerage line on the Sector 25 bypass road. The violations were detected during the repair of manholes.

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The MC has repaired one of the damaged manholes of the sewage pipeline, but the road would be opened for vehicular movement after 8-10 days. The MC began the repair of the second manhole on Thursday.

Notably, the main sewage line has caved in eight times within 1.5 years. It caters to the sewage load of 16 wards in the city.

Sources said that the Public Health Department had started laying the main sewage line in 1995. The 7.5-km-long sewage line was commissioned in 2000 and it is around 20-25 feet deep with a diameter of around 1,600-1,800 mm. The sewers of almost half of the town have been attached with this main line.

With time, this sewerage pipeline has weakened and caved in multiple times. It gave way in August and October in 2023; and January and August this year in Sector-29 Part-2. The sewer line also gave way under the Sector 25 bypass road near Krishana Garden on November 9, near Days Hotel on October 20 and August 10 and 24 near Malik Enclave. Besides, the manholes also got damaged due to the movement of heavy vehicles on the road.

MC officials said that the main reason behind the damage caused to the main sewerage line was that it had outlived its utility. Besides, they said, it carried untreated effluents discharged illegally by dyeing units that contained high levels of chemicals. They said another reason was that several hotels, banquet halls and shop owners had plugged their sewage outlets with the main sewer line without permission.

A majority of the big banquet halls and hotels are located along this Sector 25 bypass road. While repairing the broken manholes of sewer lines, MC officials found several illegal connections made by owners of these banquet halls and hotels, the sources added.

Taking a strict note of this practice, the MC has identified around 15 erring hotels and banquet halls. It has served show-cause notices to the owners of seven of these hotels and banquet halls so far.

The MC has directed them to regularise their connections, failing which it would cut their connections and impose a fine on them. The pollution control board would also initiate action against them.

Vivek Sangwan, Junior Engineer, MC, said that one manhole had been completely repaired and the slab casting would be done on it. The road would be opened for vehicular movement after 8-10 days so that it gets fully set, he said.

The work of repairing the second manhole has also started, he said.