Sonepat: Rain halts Drain No. 6 upgrade, temporary channel being dug up

Mukesh Tandon

Sonepat, June 30

In view of the upcoming monsoon, the construction and beautification work of Drain No.6 that passes through the city has been stopped by the Sonepat Municipal Corporation (MC) and work on digging up a temporary channel for the drainage of stormwater has begun.

Notably, the drain which goes through the city overflowed after the first pre-monsoon rain on June 24 and inundated nearby localities. The foul-smelling water also entered the bus stand due to which travellers faced problems. The beautification of Drain No.6 by covering it was initiated during the first regime of the BJP government, but the work was halted for a long time. The work was then re-tendered to another company around four years ago. With the covering of the drain, people living in Sectors 12, 14, 15, Baba colony, Patel Nagar, Old Housing Board Colony, Sikka Colony, Jeewan Nagar, Tara Nagar, 4-Marla, Kabirpur, Shadipur, would be relieved of the stench that emanates from it. It would also help decongest traffic movement on the existing roads as the administration plans on developing it into a bypass for city residents.

Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced a project to cover the drain along similar lines to the Mughal Canal in Karnal. During his visit to Sonepat, the former Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain had inaugurated the project of covering the drain from Devru road to Shadipur at a cost of Rs 92 crore under the AMRUT scheme.

The project had already missed deadlines due to a few hurdles such as encroachments on the banks of the drains and a few trees along it. The new deadline for the project was June-end, but the work is pending.

As per sources in the MC, almost 90 per cent of the work has been completed. The sources said the construction of both walls of the drain was completed near Nandwani Nagar and it was opened for free flow of water.

The MC sources said the work to connect the drain with bridges was pending. Since it overflowed on June 24 several residential areas and agriculture fields were flooded.

Taking note of the situation, Sonepat MC Commissioner Vishram Kumar Meena, along with the officials of the engineering wing visited the area and directed them to stop the beautification work of the drain. The Commissioner also directed the officials to make arrangements for free flow of water during the rainy season by digging up a temporary drain.

Following the directions the officials concerned made a channel near Shadipur. Meanwhile, enraged at the water logging in their colony, the residents of Adarsh Nagar on Saturday protested against the MC officials and urged them to drain out the water from their colony roads at the earliest.