Poor progress marks Amrut Jal Yojna in Palwal

Quote: ‘Work behind schedule’

“Though three years have passed, the work appears to be only in the primary stage, the contractor has yet to complete the basic civil works (process of digging up and laying the pipeline).’’ – An official

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 8

With less than 30 per cent work achieved in the past three years, the ambitious scheme of augmentation of the water and sewage project, costing around Rs 200 crore, is marked with sluggish progress.

Aimed at providing adequate and upgraded water and sewage facilities within the civic limits, the project had been launched in August 2018 by the Municipal Council (MC). However, according to sources in the civic body, the pace of the work has been unsatisfactory, given the time it has already consumed and missing the deadline of March 2020.

“Though three years have passed, the work appears to be only in the primary stage, the contractor has yet to complete the basic civil works (process of digging up and laying the pipeline),’’ said an official. Only 13 and 30 per cent of the work has been completed respectively for the sewage network and water pipelines so far. A total of 150 and 130 km-long pipelines for water supply and sewage disposal are to be laid under the project, according to officials. The work on only one out of the total 27 tube-wells has been completed so far, while the work on another two was under way.

“The streets or roads dug up about a year ago were lying in the same condition, posing huge inconvenience to the residents and commuters as the commuting path has been reduced drastically,’’ said Vinod Kumar, a resident of the Rajiv Nagar locality here. Besides the slush and dirty conditions and waterlogging in the dug-up areas were posing a threat to the residents, who are faced with the risk of falling in the pits. Though the deadline of the project has been extended to March 2022, sources claimed that the project was unlikely to be completed before December-end next year.

Claiming that while the agency involved in the project had been replaced, a senior official of the MC said the work that got affected adversely by the Covid pandemic, would be sped up to get the project completed soon.